Neurosis

neurosis, plural neuroses, also called psychoneurosis or plural psychoneuroses, mental disorder that causes a sense of distress and deficit in functioning.

Neuroses are characterized by anxiety, depression, or other feelings of unhappiness or distress that are out of proportion to the circumstances of a person’s life. They may impair a person’s functioning in virtually any area of his life, relationships, or external affairs, but they are not severe enough to incapacitate the person. Affected patients generally do not suffer from the loss of the sense of reality seen in persons with psychoses.

Psychiatrists first used the term neurosis in the mid-19th century to categorize symptoms thought to be neurological in origin; the prefix “psycho-” was added some decades later when it became clear that mental and emotional factors were important in the etiology of these disorders. The terms are now used interchangeably, although the shorter word is more common. Both terms, however, lack the precision required for psychological diagnosis and are no longer used for that purpose.