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about|the term in psychology|the band|Neurosis (band) Neurosis is a class of functional symptom|functional mental disorders involving distress (medicine)|distress but neither delusion s nor hallucination s, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms.DorlandsDict|six/000072074|neurosis It is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder , and thus those suffering from it are said to be neurotic . The term essentially describes an "invisible injury" and the resulting condition.
History
Neurosis was coined by the Scottish doctor William Cullen in 1769 to refer to "disorders of sense and motion" caused by a "general affection of the nervous system ". For him, it described various nervous disorders and symptoms that could not be explained physiologically. It derives from the Greek language|Greek word "?e????" ( neuron , "nerve") with the suffix -osis (diseased or abnormal condition). The term was however most influentially defined by Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud over a century later. It has continued to be used in contemporary theoretical writing in psychology and philosophy.cite book |author=Russon, John |title=Human Experience: Philosophy, Neurosis, and the Elements of Everyday Life |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-7914-5754-0 |authorlink=John Russon See also Kirsten Jacobson, (2006), "The Interpersonal Expression of Human Spatiality: A Phenomenological Interpretation of Anorexia Nervosa ," Chiasmi International 8, pp. 157-74.
The American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has eliminated the category of "Neurosis", reflecting a decision by the editors to provide descriptions of behavior as opposed to hidden psychological mechanisms as diagnostic criteria.,cite book |title=The Loss of Sadness |publisher=Oxford |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-531304-8 |author=Horwitz and Wakefield and, according to The American Heritage Medical Dictionary, it is "no longer used in psychiatric diagnosis".cite book |title=The American Heritage Medical Dictionary |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-618-82435-9 These changes to the DSM have been controversial.Wilson, Mitchell, (1993), "DSM-III and the Transformation of American Psychiatry: A History". The American Journal of Psychiatry , 150,3, pp. 399-410.
Signs and symptoms
There are many different specific forms of neurosis: obsessive-compulsive disorder , Anxiety disorder|anxiety neurosis , hysteria (in which anxiety may be discharged through a physical symptom), and a nearly endless variety of phobia s as well as obsessions such as pyromania . According to Dr. George Boeree, effects of neurosis can involve:
... anxiety , sadness or clinical depression|depression , anger, irritability, mental confusion, low sense of self-worth, etc., behavioral symptoms such as phobic avoidance, vigilance, impulsive and compulsive acts, lethargy, etc., cognitive problems such as unpleasant or disturbing thoughts, repetition of thoughts and obsessive-compulsive disorder|obsession , habitual fantasizing, negativity and cynicism, etc. Interpersonally, neurosis involves dependency, aggressiveness, perfectionism (psychology)|perfectionism , schizoid isolation, socio-culturally inappropriate behaviors, etc.
Cause
Psychoanalytical theory
As an illness , neurosis represents a variety of mental disorders in which emotional distress or unconscious mind|unconscious conflict is expressed through various physical, physiological, and mental disturbances, which may include physical symptoms (e.g., hysteria ). The definitive symptom is anxiety|anxieties . Neurotic tendencies are common and may manifest themselves as clinical depression|depression , acute or chronic anxiety , obsessive-compulsive disorder|obsessive-compulsive tendencies, specific phobia s, such as social anxiety disorder|social phobia , arachnophobia or any number of other 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."cite web |url= http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/genpsyneurosis.html |author=Boeree, Dr. C. George |title=A Bio-Social Theory of Neurosis |year=2002 |accessdate=2009-04-21 Neurosis should not be mistaken for psychosis , which refers to loss of touch with reality, or neuroticism , a fundamental personality trait theory|trait according to psychology|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 Id, ego and super-ego|ego ), while only those thoughts and behavior patterns that produce difficulties in living should be termed "neuroses".
Jung's theory
main|Jung's theory of neurosis Carl Jung found his approach particularly fitting for people who are successfully adjusted by normal social standards, but who nevertheless have issues with the meaning of their life.
I have frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong answers to the questions of life (Jung, 1961 1989:140).
The majority of my patients consisted not of believers but of those who had lost their faith (Jung, 1961 1989:140).
Contemporary man is blind to the fact that, with all his rationality and efficiency, he is possessed by "powers" that are beyond his control. His gods and demons have not disappeared at all; they have merely got new names. They keep him on the run with restlessness, vague apprehensions, psychological complications, an insatiable need for pills, alcohol, tobacco, food – and, above all, a large array of neuroses. (Jung, 1964:82).
Jung found that the unconscious finds expression primarily through an individual's inferior psychological function, whether it is thinking, feeling, sensing, or intuition. The characteristic effects of a neurosis on the dominant and inferior functions are discussed in Psychological Types .
Jung saw collective neuroses in politics: "Our world is, so to speak, dissociated like a neurotic" (Jung, 1964:85).
See also
Catastrophization
Neuroticism
References
reflist
Further reading
Angyal, Andras . (1965). Neurosis and treatment: a holistic theory. Edited by E. Hanfmann and R. M. Jones
Otto Fenichel|Fenichel, Otto . (1945) The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis. New York: Norton Publishing Company.
Freud, Sigmund . The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth, 1953-74.
Horney, Karen . Neurosis and Human Growth." Norton, 1950.
Horney, Karen . The Collected Works. (2 Vols.) Norton, 1937.
Horwitz, A. V. and J. C. Wakefield. The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder . Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-19-531304-8.
Jung, C.G., et al. (1964). Man and his Symbols, New York, N.Y.: Anchor Books, Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-05221-9.
Jung, C.G. (1966). Two Essays on Analytical Psychology , Collected Works, Volume 7, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01782-4.
Jung, C.G. 1921 (1971). Psychological Types , Collected Works, Volume 6, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01813-8.
Jung, C.G. 1961 (1989). 'Memories, Dreams, Reflections , New York, N.Y.: Vantage Books. ISBN 0-679-72395-1
John Russon|Russon, John . (2003). Human Experience: Philosophy, Neurosis, and the Elements of Everyday Life. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-5754-0
Winokur, Jon. Encyclopedia Neurotica. 2005. ISBN 0-312-32501-0.
cite journal |author=LADELL RM, HARGREAVES TH |title=The Extent of Neurosis |journal=Br Med J |volume=2 |issue=4526 |pages=548 |year=1947 |month=October
cite web |url= http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/genpsyneurosis.html |author=Boeree, Dr. C. George |title=A Bio-Social Theory of Neurosis |year=2002 |accessdate=2009-04-21
cite web |url= http://www.continuum-concept.org/reading/neurosis.html |author=Janov, Dr. Arthur |title=Neurosis |year=1991 |accessdate=2009-04-21 |authorlink=Arthur Janov
Category:Psychoanalysis Category:Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders Category:Obsolete medical terms Category:Historical and obsolete mental and behavioural disorders Category:History of psychiatry
