What Are The Psychological Effects Of Obsessional Neurosis?
A good part of the psychological alterations that lead people to seek professional help in psychotherapy have to do with emotional management problems. Among these emotional imbalances, some can be considered neuroses, although this term is very broad and encompasses a wide variety of mental phenomena and behavioral patterns.
In this article We are going to focus on what is known as obsessional neuroses, to see what the typical psychological effects of these are.
The word neurosis has been used in the clinical setting since the 18th century. when the Scottish doctor William Cullen used this word to refer to what certain patients experienced with alterations in their way of moving and experiencing moods, which were apparently caused by dysfunctions in the nervous system.
However, it was at the beginning of the 20th century when this word acquired importance in the world of psychological care for patients, with the help of Sigmund Freud and the more or less direct followers of his theories and psychodynamic approach to the human mind, such as Carl Jung. These authors defined neurosis primarily as an inability to emotionally adjust to the environment and daily social contexts.
Thus, if psychosis was a psychiatric disorder that involved a cognitive, emotional and perceptual disconnection from reality, The neurosis mainly affected the emotions and its impact on people’s quality of life was not considered so radical, in most cases. Patients with neurosis who came to see specialists were not incapable of fully understanding what was happening around them, but their emotional response to day-to-day events caused problems for them and the people around them: for example, through unjustified explosions of anger, a very intense fear of abandoning the protection of the family, the tendency to cry a lot for no apparent reason, etc.
Now, although the term neurosis was used as a diagnostic category in the first editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the line of diagnostic manuals most used in the field of mental health, Nowadays it is no longer officially used , in favor of other more specific terms when describing the symptoms of psychopathologies. But that does not mean that in certain cases it is not useful as a conceptual shortcut to talk about certain cases in which a typical clinical picture is seen that is relatively common among psychotherapy or psychiatric care patients.
Main psychological effects of obsessional neurosis
As we have seen, The concept of neurosis has very diffuse limits and is currently rather out of use in favor of other terms that refer to psychological disorders detailed in the diagnostic manuals used in psychiatry and clinical psychology today (among other things, because the symptoms of each of them are much more specific).
For example, some of the psychopathologies that overlap with the concept of neurosis are Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, phobias, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Intermittent Explosive Disorder, and more.
However, it is still possible to refer to the different types of neuroses to roughly describe the psychological alterations that some patients present, and the possible causes behind them.
Taking this into account, what does an obsessional neurosis consist of?
Obsessive neurosis is a form of neurosis characterized by recurring thoughts that “catch” the person’s consciousness over and over again. The problems it gives rise to may have to do with the fear of something happening (a hypothetical scenario that comes to the person’s mind constantly and at inappropriate times, causing great emotional disturbance) and/or with the tendency to constantly fantasize about the same thing, separating the person from their responsibilities and the possibility of having a satisfactory social life.
In any case, In most cases, these obsessive thoughts give rise to stress or anxiety. either due to the discomfort produced by these ideas or mental images, or due to the psychological tension they generate by putting the person in a state of “alert” (for example, by feeling frustrated for not living what they fantasize about and seeking opportunities to move from desires to reality).
Now that we have seen the general characteristics of obsessional neurosis, let’s see in a little more detail what its psychological effects are on those who develop this disorder.
1. Produces psychological rumination
Rumination is one of the key elements of obsessional neurosis. As its name indicates, This alteration is based on obsessions, recurring thoughts that appear in the person’s mind over and over again. This makes the person be attentive to the possible appearance of those ideas or mental images, learning to fear these unpleasant experiences, so that a vicious circle occurs.
2. A feeling of lack of control over one’s own actions appears
The person with obsessional neurosis has problems repressing the impulse to relieve the discomfort generated by the obsessions. performing certain actions, which become routines. In this way, their daily life is increasingly limited by the need to perform these rituals more and more frequently.
3. Leads to inappropriate anxiety management strategies
The way in which people with obsessional neurosis try to alleviate their discomfort usually reinforces the problem, by providing momentary relief but, at the same time, predispose to the constant appearance of those recurring thoughts.
For example, biting your nails to “eliminate” the feeling of having done something wrong causes the nails to be in worse condition and the person has a constant reminder of what led them to bite them.
4. Limits the person’s social life
Another psychological effect of obsessional neurosis is that it becomes more difficult to connect with others to the point of creating solid emotional bonds due to the tendency to introspection or/and rituals to alleviate the discomfort of people who have this alteration.
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