Neurotic People: The 8 Characteristics That Distinguish Them
Neurotic people are a constant in our society. And despite the fact that we call ourselves “rational animals”, emotional instability is widely spread among the human species.
And the meaning of the term “neuroticism” basically alludes to that: the relative instability of emotional and sentimental states, specifically, due to a bias towards ideas and ideas. negative and anxiety-generating emotions This means that in a matter of minutes a slight stimulus, inconsequential for most, causes a lot of discomfort in the neurotic person. Now, in practice… what exactly does it mean to be a neurotic person? Let’s see it.
The word “neuroticism” was used by psychologist Hans Eynseck to refer to a personality trait that indicates the tendency to delve into negative and stressful thoughts, which can erupt almost at any time. Below we will see how this translates into day-to-day life.
1. Constant search for references
Neurotic people need to feel anchored to reality through the example they see in other people, charismatic people in whom they reflect and who they want to be like In this way, they try to give consistency to their life goals by borrowing the attitudes and values of someone whom they normally idealize.
Of course, this helps in some cases, but in others it causes even more problems. Because? Because the fact of not looking like that reference figure gives more reasons for frustration. On the other hand, the fact that they idealize their idols also contributes to the fact that the actions of neurotic people can follow an unreasonable pattern of behavior.
2. They can be very direct
In their personal relationships, neurotic people are capable of showing themselves in a significantly invasive and even inappropriate way with others, even without being angry. The reason is that although they know the theory of what is considered “polite behavior”, in practice they often find it difficult to take it into account, since They let themselves be carried away by the emotions of the present regardless of whether this leads them to be very invasive with others.
3. They often contradict each other
Another characteristic of neurotic people is that there is relatively little consistency in their actions and speech. The reason for this is that the emotional state of the moment has a lot of influence, and that makes the reasoning that could structure thought disappear or lose importance during the time in which the emotional wins the game.
4. They often fall into anticipatory anxiety
They easily fall into stress When faced with setbacks, stress manifests itself intensely in neurotic people. It is normally given in limited quantities, but can cause crises in which control is lost.
5. They make forecasts in black or white terms
Nuances and details are often overlooked when there is something that captures all our attention This is precisely what happens to neurotic people when making predictions; There are possibilities so terrifying that everything is analyzed based on whether certain actions bring us closer to that possible scenario or distance us from it.
We have seen that neurotic people They are prone to making very pessimistic forecasts of the future, but, paradoxically, when something goes wrong it also affects them more than the rest, often producing an explosion of emotions. This is because the problem of perceiving a failure is added to the difficulty of knowing how to act from that moment on to rebuild the present and make it somewhat more tolerable.
7. They are sensitive to criticism
It is very common for neurotic people to have unstable self-esteem, usually relatively low due to the episodes of constant uncertainty that they often go through. That’s why criticism can easily hit home and hurt your feelings; not only because they believe that there are many reasons to criticize them, but also because, as we have seen, they adopt a catastrophic interpretation of things
On the other hand, criticism can also be taken as an indication that a veiled message is being sent, something that indicates that that person knows a secret about us and expresses it indirectly. This possibility, based on almost paranoid thinking is terrifying for neurotic people.
8. They are more sensitive in general
What defines neurotic people is not so much the going from one end of the arc of emotions to its opposite, but the ease with which they fall into negative emotions (that is, unpleasant for those who experience them). That’s why, It is easy for them to feel bad about all kinds of situations from a sad movie to something that may be slightly offensive.
