Neurotic Personality Disorder is a psychological disorder that is exhibited through an unhealthy response to one’s environment. People who suffer from neurotic disorder have problems interacting appropriately in social situations. These individuals also tend to have a higher risk of depression or anxiety that interferes with their daily lives. Sigmund Freud first diagnosed patients who exhibited symptoms of Neurotic Personality Disorder in the late 1800s. Freud’s opinion was that every individual has the capacity to behave in a neurotic manner in some way.
Neuroticism Increases Risk of Other Disorders
Research has shown that people who suffer from diagnosed cases of Neurotic Personality Disorder are far more likely to develop other internal and external disorders as well. Neuroticism seems to have a direct link to cases of severe panic disorders, phobias, major depression and high anxiety. The attempts of sufferers to control their neuroticism on their own without medical assistance often leads to drug or alcohol dependence. Many Neurotic Personality Disorder patients also exhibit the symptoms of Conduct Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder. The combined effects of these pathological illnesses can cause patients to be unable to lead normal, productive lives.
How Childhood Factors In
Carl Jung was a prominent psychologist who studied Freud’s findings regarding Neurotic Personality Disorder and proposed a different theory than had been accepted by Freud. Freud was convinced that neuroticism was caused by frustrations that a patient underwent during important sexual phases of their early lives. Jung, on the other hand, believed that neuroticism was caused by a person’s inability to explore and assert their individualism. In short, Freud focused on a patient’s childhood in order to uncover the roots of the neurotic behavior, while Jung believed that an intense focus on the things that went wrong in a patient’s past would actually intensify the neurotic behavior.
Current Underlying Causes
Both Carl Jung and Freud recognized that a person’s immediate environment could have a deep impact on the severity of their neurosis. Unhealthy relationships and overly stressful situations cause a neurotic individual to escape further into their neurotic behavior as a coping mechanism. Freud and Jung both looked for causes that were more deeply embedded in a person’s psyche that created the impetus for the person to behave in an unhealthy manner.
Jung explored the patient’s path toward becoming an individual and looked for paths to personal freedom that had been blocked, while Freud investigated a person’s childhood history for events that might have caused a shift in the person’s perception of the world.
Suggested Remedies for Neurotic Personality Disorder
When it comes to a cure for Neurotic Personality Disorder, Jung’s theory provides more positive answers than Freud’s. Freud believed that the disorder was rooted in childhood events that can not be changed once an individual has grown to adulthood. Jung, however, believes that the paths toward individual growth that were blocked can be opened at any point in a person’s life.
The best remedy for a neurotic disorder is a thorough examination of a person’s responses to daily life situations. Neuroticism can be overcome by gaining a new understanding of self and working toward individual life fulfillment. This can be accomplished with the help of a medical professional in more severe cases.