Should The Word Neurosis Be Brought Back Into Regualar Use?

Being labeled anything with a negative connotation doesn’t feel good.  However, for better or for worse labels help us to identify things more readily.

When it comes to anxiety disorders we are usually labeled as sufferers of panic disorder, OCD, general anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, PTSD, agoraphobia, and other types of phobics.  But ironically I think the psychologist of the past got it right in one word – Neurosis.

What exactly is neurosis?  Well I can try to give you some quasi accurate interpretation but let’s lean on Wikipedia on this one and take a peek at a portion of their entry for the word neurosis.  Tell me if this isn’t you.

“As an illness, neurosis represents a variety of mental disorders in which emotional distress or unconscious conflict is expressed through various physical, physiological, and mental disturbances, which may include physical symptoms (e.g., hysteria). The definitive symptom is anxieties. Neurotic tendencies are common and may manifest themselves as depression, acute or chronic anxiety, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, phobias, and even personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder or obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. It has perhaps been most simply defined as a “poor ability to adapt to one’s environment, an inability to change one’s life patterns, and the inability to develop a richer, more complex, more satisfying personality.” ^[4] Neurosis should not be mistaken for psychosis, which refers to loss of touch with reality, or neuroticism, a fundamental personality trait according to psychological theory.

According to psychoanalytic theory, neuroses may be rooted in ego defense mechanisms, but the two concepts are not synonymous. Defense mechanisms are a normal way of developing and maintaining a consistent sense of self (i.e., an ego), while only those thought and behavior patterns that produce difficulties in living should be termed neuroses.”

I could not have said it better myself, but does that not sound more accurate or at least more straightforward?  People love categories and subcategories, but in this case it seems to me that the word neurosis is a very  accurate encapsulation of all anxiety based issues.

I suppose they came up with different types of anxiety disorders to name the different types of neurosis.  I just like the definition of neurosis better than anything else describing my condition cause I experience all these things outlined in the Wikipedia page and I have an affinity for simplicity.

Moreover, most of us are not afflicted by just one thing.  In the case of anxiety disorders sufferers are usually affected by three or four things at once.  Again, there are different types of neurosis, but when you say that someone is neurotic all those anxiety symptoms, thoughts, and sensations pop into the mind.

Whereas if someone says that they have anxiety people tend to over simplify the condition and maybe downplay it’s significance.  Neurosis just sounds more serious – it tells folks to respect the seriousness of your anxiety.

I guess this is all semantics and word play cause one is the other but in a way over complicating things (terms) can cause confusion.  In my case I’m mostly anxious, but I’m also a little depressed, ocd, and have a sprinkle of social anxiety.  I’m all those things, I’m neurotic.

Neurosis is not completely outdated as it is still used in some instances, but when I read the definition earlier today (cause I do things like that) I figured yea, yea neurotic sounds about right.  Just a thought I had.

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