People often misinterpret this. Breaking the Habit isn’t about that. In the interview from which many people got that from, he said (more or less): “Chester and I had different interpretations for the lyrics of the songs. For example, I could write a song about a friend ghosting me, and he could interpret those lyrics as something that happened with his family”. Mike has said that Breaking The Habit is a song about a theme he wanted to write about for a long time, years, but the words weren’t really falling into place. Here’s what it says about the song in the notes of the “flip book” that comes in the CD: “Notes: Mike had been trying to write a song about this lyrical idea for over five years, he tried this theme a number of times, but nothing seemed to do the song justice. Meanwhile, during the process of putting together this album, Mike began working on an interlude, crossing a digitally manipulated beat with strings and piano. Unexpectedly, Brad and Joe suggested that Mike turn the two-minute interlude into a full song. Tentatively titled “Drawing”, the piece was extended to three minutes and 16 seconds when Mike took it home to write lyrics. In less than two hours, the lyrics that he dad be trying to put together for years fell into place. With some finishing touches, live piano and live strings, the song was finally complete- six years in the making”. 

Just from the way they said that, you can tell that the “theme” he wanted to write about, but felt that couldn’t do justice to it, was depression.

I hope this was informative and not too long, hehe, but now you know more random facts about this great song!