According to the World Health Organization, the number of patients with neurosis has increased 24 times over the last 65 years. It turns out that the probability of dealing with neurosis is greater than it seems to us. An outburst of emotions, unreasonable agitation, changes in health without an obvious reason can be a sign of neurosis. It is important to distinguish simple depression or, on the contrary, the natural irritability of a person, from neurosis, which is a real disease and affects not only the psyche, but also health in general.
Then why don’t we all suffer from neurosis? Many of us are constantly exposed to different types of stress, we all find ourselves in difficult situations.
Why…
The point is that only one trauma is not enough for the development of neurosis. Personality characteristics are also an important link in the development of neurosis. The traumatic factor is the seed from which neurosis develops and must be endowed with special individual importance.
Research has found such individual characteristics that those who possess them are more predisposed to neuroses than others.
- hypersensitivity or high sensitivity,
- anxious suspicion,
- emotional instability – rapid change of mood due to minor reasons,
- demonstrative behavior,
- depressive lines,
- rigidity (difficulties in adapting to changing conditions).
How is neurosis manifested?
Neurosis can have various manifestations. Among the mental manifestations are anxiety, asthenia or the feeling of lack of strength, depression, fears, hypochondria, sticky states, which, as a rule, are difficult to hide. Heart palpitations, breathing disorders are possible. Neurosis can be accompanied by stomach problems, pains in different parts of the spine, shivering or fever. Sleep disorders and problems in the intimate sphere are frequent companions of neurosis.
Types of neuroses
The most common are:
- anxiety-phobic disorders. are manifested by attacks of fear and unreasonable anxiety. Fear arises from various situations that do not pose a real threat (fear of closed spaces, being in the center of attention, receiving a negative evaluation from others),
- depressive disorders. are characterized by a sad mood, feelings of inferiority, abandonment, loneliness, despondency, which are subject to daily and seasonal fluctuations and are usually accompanied by anxiety, apathy, fatigue, decreased attention, memory impairment, clinging thoughts, disappointment in everything, sleep disorders,
- sticky disorders. characterized by repetitive, uncontrollable obsessive thoughts, feelings, images, or obsessive actions. These are often associated with the fear of infection, contamination, the need to constantly re-examine one’s actions, not to be harmed, and certain actions related to them, such as an obsession with washing hands or teeth, ensuring perfect cleanliness.
These manifestations are closely related and can be expressed in different combinations. A real neurosis can only be detected by a neurologist after talking with the patient and examining him. Only a specialist can distinguish the signs of neurosis from the manifestations of other somatic diseases (hypertension, heart diseases, consequences of injury, etc.), as well as from complications caused by taking medication and mental illnesses.