A neurotic personality may make you more prone to get what researchers call “internalizing disorders,” such as: Generalized anxiety disorder. Depression. Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Social phobia.
There are the following types of neurosis: Anxiety neurosis. Depressive neurosis. Obsessive-compulsive neurosis.
'Neurotic disorders' is a global term used to cover minor psychiatric conditions such as anxiety, depression, obsessional and phobic neuroses. They are mental disorders without an organic basis and where the patient does not lose touch with reality.
In the most recent version of the Big Five personality assessment, neuroticism is separated into three categories: anxiety, depression, and emotional volatility. Neuroticism scores are largely based on how an individual rates statements within these subcategories; higher ratings suggest a higher degree of neuroticism.
Mental disorder correlations
It found that high neuroticism is predictive for the development of anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, psychosis, and schizophrenia, and is predictive but less so for substance use and non-specific mental distress.
Neuroticism, one of the Big 5 personality traits, is typically defined as a tendency toward anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and other negative feelings. All personality traits, including neuroticism, exist on a spectrum—some people are just much more neurotic than others.
Some common examples of neurotic behavior can include:
Intense anxiety or panic in non-threatening social situations like going out to eat, a work function, or a friendly gathering. Difficulty taking care of basic needs, such as shopping, hygiene, paying bills or keeping a job, as a result of depression or anxiety.
Neuroticism is the trait disposition to experience negative affects, including anger, anxiety, self‐consciousness, irritability, emotional instability, and depression1.
In general, people who are high on the neuroticism scale react with quick arousal to situations and can take a long time to get back to their baseline level. In other words, they live with emotional instability and may have trouble regulating their behaviors as a result.
The neuroticism subscale includes six facets: anxiety, angry-hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, and vulnerability.
Horney enumerated 10 neurotic needs: for affection and approval, for a partner to take over one's life, for restriction of one's life, for power, for exploitation of others, for prestige, for admiration, for achievement, for self-sufficiency and independence, and for perfection.
Overcoming neurotic anxiety often includes treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and lifestyle changes that benefit a person's overall well-being. Through these changes, a person can build a life that helps them to overcome neurotic anxiety. However, treatment has many individual differences.
People who experience trauma, stress, and adversity are also more likely to develop neurotic personality traits and behaviors, particularly when these events happen early on in life.
The most direct way to reduce neuroticism is to enter therapy. Your therapist can help you address it in a comprehensive way, including thought patterns, relationships, lifestyle factors, and perhaps medication.
If you find that you anger easily over very minute things, you might be neurotic. High levels of stress can lead to physical symptoms such as high blood pressure and sleep disturbances, impacting on your overall health. Aligning with easy irritation is road rage. Everyone makes mistakes and no one is a perfect driver.
Neuroticism can indeed help differentiate the two forms of narcissism. Vulnerable narcissists were highly neurotic and grandiose narcissists were relatively emotionally stable. Furthermore, neuroticism turned out to be a significant factor in the link between vulnerable narcissism and anger and hostility.
People who are highly neurotic usually prefer jobs in Material Science, Web development, Archiving etc. People who are less neurotic often prefer jobs such as Telephone Operator, Critical Care Nurse or CEOs.
Signs and symptoms
There's no definitive list for symptoms of neuroticism, but you may experience behaviors such as: a natural inclination for negative emotions (anger, anxiety, sadness, depression, self-doubt, jealousy, etc.) easy emotional stimulation.
Many of the most successful people in history have been posthumously identified as neurotics. Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Winston Churchill... Steve Jobs' obsessive micromanagement didn't come from an excess of agreeableness, did it?
Of the personality factors, Schriber et al. (28) found that neuroticism may be a more robust discriminant of group membership (autistic vs. non-autistic) that is strongly associated internalizing and externalizing symptoms in autistic samples.
When you're neurotic, you may be more susceptible to stress. Overtime, unmanaged stress can debilitate your general health, lead to dysregulated emotions, and worsen your neuroticism. For this reason, it's crucial to effectively manage stress.
Individuals tend to increase their levels of Neuroticism, especially in young adult life, between 20 and 40 years of age, and older people tend to obtain lower scores (Roberts et al., 2006).
H.J. Eysenck proposed that personality could be reduced into two broad dimensions. These dimensions are Neuroticism and Extraversion-Introversion dimensions. According to Eysenck, these are biologically and genetically based and each dimension subsumes under it a number of specific traits.