Neurosis and Psychosis

Introduction

Neurosis refers to a mental disorder that is generally characterized by anxiety, depression, and feelings of unhappiness or stress. A person having neurosis may feel like he/she is unable to manage life and others expectations. Neurosis is also called neuroticism or neurotic behaviour. Medical professionals have long debated whether neurosis is a disorder or a personality trait. Psychosis is a medical symptom that affects one’s mind. Typically, if a person has had a psychotic episode then he/she may have lost some contact with reality. During psychosis, our thoughts and perceptions become distrustful and disturbed. The person may have trouble knowing what’s real and what’s not. 

Neurosis

Neurosis refers to an exaggerated use of the defence mechanisms to escape the feelings of a situation or event that a person wants to avoid. Example, a person showing an unusual fear or anxiety to escape certain situations. Anxiety, depression, phobias and eating disorders are some of the common types of neurosis. Though these are experienced at a smaller scale by everyone, if these feelings begin to interfere with day-to-day activities, then medical help should be given. Persons with neurosis could understand that they possess a problem that hinders their normal life routine, but they are unable to resolve it by themselves. Neurotics exhibit an unusual anxiety to escape certain situations. The anxiety experienced by a neurotic person totally depends on the type of the disorder.

Symptoms of Neurosis

Though neurosis is not classified as a medical condition, there are few signs of neurotic behaviour that one can look for. Those signs are as follows:

• Fatigue
• Persistent emotional disturbance
• Doubt 
• Egoistic disturbance
• Inability to cope with stress
• Emotional strain

Types of Neurosis

Anxiety neurosis: Majority of us experience anxiety in certain situations such as exams, interviews and so on. Whereas, a person with neurosis can get panic attacks like those of heart palpitations, numbness, fainting, chills, etc. The fears are so overpowering that the person cannot even carry out the function and can disturb their day-to-day activities.

Phobias: It describes an extreme fear of certain objects or situations. These are thought to be a result of some previous bad experience and the person is usually affected by it so much that they try to avoid the situation completely. If by any means, faced with the situation, they get panic attacks. This condition may be treated via behaviour modification and via associating the experiences with some pleasant outcomes. E.g. fear of heights, fear of crowded places and so on.

Obsessive-Compulsive disorder: It refers to a persistent unwanted thought or belief that leads to anxiety and in order to get rid of this anxiety, the person has  to perform a certain act or behave in a certain way. E.g. Fear of germs represents obsession and washing of hands is defined as an act of compulsion. The person is totally aware that this fear is irrational but they cannot help themselves from doing the act to get rid of the anxiety caused via the obsessive thought.

Depression: It refers to a serious mental health disorder that may be associated with bitter life experiences or some imbalance of chemicals in the body. Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, guilt and despair are the common symptoms of depression. Generally these types of  feelings get resolved over time, but when it is a neurotic depression, it can affect  the daily living of the person like taking up responsibilities and taking care of family.

Eating disorder: Eating disorders are very similar to obsessive disorders, but it pertains specifically to the eating patterns and the anxiety that it leads to.

Anorexia nervosa: It refers to a disorder that results in a reduced intake of food by the affected person. The persons are obsessed by the thought that they may become obese and thus they reduce their food intake. Even if they eat, they then try to get rid of the food in the stomach with laxatives and vomiting, before it gets properly absorbed by the body. 

Bulimia: is also an eating disorder, in which the persons binge-eat and then try to induce vomiting, and starve themselves to compensate. The therapy involves helping people to find some healthier ways to eat and dealing with personal conflicts.

Psychosis

Persons having psychotic disorders do not understand that they are suffering from a problem. They live in the world of delusions and hallucinations and their behaviour is mainly a result of the beliefs depending on these hallucinations. Their thought processes, beliefs and emotions are so much impaired that they lose contact with reality. They also show huge personality changes, dramatic mood swings, abnormal emotional responses and lack of orientation of time, place and people around them.

Symptoms of Psychosis

The two main symptoms of psychosis are hallucinations or delusions. Psychosis can have symptoms before one has experienced their first psychotic episode. Other early signs can be gradual or sudden onset and include: 

• Changes in thinking.
• Changes in behaviour.
• Changes in feeling and perception.

If a person’s psychosis becomes more intense and they suffers more psychotic episodes then they may experience the following: 

• Disorganized thoughts
• Decline in self care
• Incoherent or nonsensical speech
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Sleep problems
• Social withdrawal
• Lack of motivation
• Difficulty functioning

Types of Psychotic Disorders

Schizophrenia: It describes a group of severe mental disorders that comprises symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, distorted thought processes and abnormal emotions. The person is totally withdrawn from reality. Schizophrenia affects in different ways in different individuals such as some withdrawing into themselves without reacting to any stimulus whereas, others may possess delusions of grandeur with unrealistic and illogical thinking.

Manic Depressive Psychosis: this kind of psychosis is mainly characterized by extreme mood swings from being extremely happy or extremely aggressive to totally withdrawn. During the manic phase, the person may seem to possess unlimited energy and find difficulty in sleeping. At the time of depression, the person becomes extremely tired, hopeless and totally withdrawn. Such a person may even commit suicide.  

Dissociative Identity Disorder: also known as the Multiple Personality Disorder, this type of identity disorder involves a disturbance in both memory and identity of the individual. There is a presence of two or more different personalities within one body and each personality is not aware of the presence of the other. The cause of this multiple personality disorder can be thought to be extreme physical, sexual, emotional or psychological abuse, over a given period of time. People with dissociative personality disorder can experience various kinds of emotions. Which include depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, panic attacks, sleep disorders, auditory and visual hallucinations and eating disorders.

Organic Psychosis: This refers to a condition that involves delusions and hallucinations because of the effect of damage to the brain tissue. The main cause of organic psychosis may be untreated syphilis, heavy use of alcohol and drugs, brain tumor, meningitis and chemical imbalances present in the nervous system. Few drugs cause side-effects that generally result in mental disorders.

Drug-induced Psychosis: Drugs such as cocaine, marijuana or cannabis and other hallucinogens cause psychotic symptoms in an individual who is already predisposed to psychosis. Early symptoms of drug-induced psychosis increase very slowly and progress with the continued use of the drugs. The symptoms that affect them can be indicative of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

Conclusion

Neurosis and psychosis are usually not similar types of mental disorders. Neurosis is very less significant and possesses only a mental impact that can be cured via support from peers and also discussions with experts. On the other hand, psychosis represents a severe ailment that can be both emotional and functional. The person with psychosis possess madness and can harm themselves if not cared for properly. Hospitalization is a must to some extent in neurosis and to a greater extent in psychosis. Here we come to an end of this topic. We hope that you were able to clear all your concepts regarding the topic neurosis and psychosis.