Lack of Affection and its Consequences — Are We Neurotic?

Lida Prypchan
2 min read4 days ago

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How to define neurosis?

The neurotic maintains his contact with reality intact and behaves as if that reality had the same meaning for him as for the rest of the community, with a tendency to develop repetitive behaviors. Neurosis is a psychic disorder in which a high level of anxiety is evident, produced by fears, by defenses created against those fears and by attempts to establish solutions between conflicting tendencies as a compensation mechanism.

This concept is valid only if the individual and his disorder are removed from the norms established in a culture. Thus, in the neurotic we find in a disproportionate way the causes of anxiety, the need for affection, the inferiority complex, hostility, marked susceptibility, the guilt complex and a different meaning and relationship with sexuality.

And although you may find that all of this can be suffered by an ordinary person of our time without necessarily being neurotic, it is important to note that the aforementioned characteristics in the neurotic have much more marked and irrational manifestations than one might think, due to a mental disorder.

Anxiety is an inevitable part of the life and experiences of each individual. For a condition to be called neurosis, the acts carried out under the effect of anxiety must be disproportionate to the reasons that cause them.

Among the causes of neurosis, although heredity cannot be ruled out as an important factor, are: lack of affection in childhood, an erroneous upbringing regimen, whether due to excessive indulgence or rigidity.

The symptoms of neurosis can be mental or physical. Tension, apprehension and worries are common features of this pathology and phobic reactions will become the focus of the disease. Other symptoms may include irritability, depression, absent-mindedness, insomnia, nightmares or restless sleep, palpitations, indigestion and facial flushing.

Emotional conflicts at the root of a neurosis may develop into physical reactions without any real bodily cause. These “conversion” reactions are a form of hysteria and may range from paralysis of a part of the body to amnesia or attacks of blindness or deafness. These symptoms often have a clear symbolic meaning: hysterical reactions take the form of amnesia, in order to escape from painful and bothersome conflicts.

Obsessive neurosis, the least common of neurotic reactions, may constitute a defence against anxiety or symbolise some repressed feelings of guilt. These “compulsive-obsessive” reactions extend to become fixed ideas that continually turn over in the patient’s mind.

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Lida Prypchan
Lida Prypchan

Written by Lida Prypchan

Psychiatrist & Writer — Writing and meditating at the intersection of psychiatry, philosophy, Buddhism and the arts. More information at www.lidaprypchan.com

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