What is neurosis?
- Neurosis is neither an organic disease nor a mental disease. It involves an intensive adherence to feelings or moods any normal persons may have. The result is troublesome misunderstandings and illusions. Neurotics consider themselves sick and misunderstand themselves as disordered and abnormal.
- Shinkeishitsu neurosis is divided by Morita Therapy into three categories, namely,
(1)ordinary neurosis,
(2)obsessive-compulsive neurosis, and
(3)anxiety neurosis.
Character traits predisposing to neurosis
- Generally, it can be said that neurotics are strongly introverted. However, not all introverts suffer from neurosis. Those who have a strong desire to improve themselves and a strong tendency for introspection have a tendency to contract neurosis.
- Persons with neurosis originally have natures useful to the society such as industriousness, seriousness, earnestness, tenaciousness. Nevertheless, because of their unbalanced character traits they lack normal equilibrium in character.
Basic character traits of neurotics are as follows.
(1)They are of introspective, intellectual, and self-conscious
On the positive side: they are well able to self-reflect. They have seriousness and a sense of responsibility.
On the negative side: they tend to overly analyze their bodily and mental processes. They see their minor weaknesses and foibles in an exaggerated light. They have feelings of inferiority. Ideologically they are idealists.
(2)They have a strong fixation
On the positive side: they are persevering and patient.
On the negative side: they are overly persistent and inflexible.
(3)They are very impressionable, and worrying constantly
On the positive side: they notice details and care about the feelings of others.
On the negative side: they are hypersensitive to anxiety or pain and worry needlessly. They are not spontaneous in activity so their timing may be poor.
(4)They have strong desires
On the positive side: they fervently want to succeed and perfect themselves, making strong efforts to do so. They are methodical.
On the negative side: they are liable to fall into perfectionism. They suffer from their own imperfection.