What is a neurotic person? There is great confusion when using the terms related to this concept. Even, popularly, it is sometimes equated with nervousness or restlessness, as if they were synonyms, something totally incorrect. Therefore, the first thing will be to clarify the meaning of these words using the definitions provided by the Royal National Academy of Medicine of Spain. Answering the initial question, a neurotic person is defined as someone who suffers from neurosis. And here comes the next common mistake: neurosis is not the same as neuroticism, even though they are often used as equivalents.
While neurosis is a mental disorder characterized by emotional instability and feelings of distress; Neuroticism is a personality trait opposed to stability and that makes people vulnerable to suffering from neuroses. So, when talking about a neurotic person, we will have to focus on the concept of neurosis, also known as neurotic disorder.
MundoPsicologos specialists explain that neurotic people are especially vulnerable to changes in the environment, since they are not able to manage stress and have a low tolerance to it. Which gives rise to a whole series of emotions and behaviors that characterize them.
One of the most common traits among neurotic people is that they do not tolerate uncertainty; not being able to have certainty or control over upcoming situations causes them great stress and anxiety. Furthermore, these individuals tend to be superstitious, which, in a way, is a response to this inability to manage the lack of control.
Another characteristic of neurotic people is that they usually focus more on negative emotions than on positive ones, since they are more sensitive to them. And they are quite pessimistic, in fact, it is common for them to present a catastrophic future vision, because they imagine the possible scenarios that are coming from a prism of negativity. The result is that their anxiety worsens and this, in turn, makes them feel very frustrated.
