Neurosis

[gromit]

I almost feel dumb posting this...

How do I know if I have a neurosis or if I should be concerned about a particular behavior? I just have realized that I've become really aware of my water intake lately, to the point where if I am not at home or at my office, like out, walking around somewhere, I begin to feel almost a little bit panicky if I don't have my water bottle (or another source of drinkable water in my possession). If I have the bottle but it's empty or almost empty I start trying to figure out where I will be able to fill it. It takes a lot of mental effort/focus to think about something else rather than how I will get water, like if someone is talking to me, for example, my mind isn't 100% in the conversation. Once I have water I am fine, though.

I have heard people talk about how they feel that way with their iphones, so I guess it's not totally crazy, but still... at which point should I start being concerned about something like this?

 

[Chloe]

well you might as well have diabetes...(main early symptom is overly drinking water)

 

[La de Longe]

Is neurosis even still a clinically used term?

Water intake seems harmless enough, I've often heard that people can develop obsessions with random things in order to direct their attention away from their real anxieties. Maybe try to assess whether anything is going on beneath the surface.

 

[Arclight]

I have a friend , who years ago had an issue with worrying about his door being locked. It became a full on OCD with the guy. I would leave with him. He would say, "I have locked my door right? you have seen it, right?"
I would reply yes. However we could not get a block away without him having to go back and "make sure".
He quit school because he could not concentrate in class, too worried about his door.
He eventually got over it.
I have joked about this, and even mastered my imitation of him in those moments for the entertainment of others.

Karma is a bitch.

Lately I have been going all funny about my door. I check it at least twice.
I have gotten halfway to school, only to turn around and go check just "to make sure".
I have sat in class wondering if I somehow forgot. Or fucked up all night at work because my mind is on my door.

It has not reached OCD yet.. but it's a troubling trend.

 

[onemoretime]

Is neurosis even still a clinically used term?

Water intake seems harmless enough, I've often heard that people can develop obsessions with random things in order to direct their attention away from their real anxieties. Maybe try to assess whether anything is going on beneath the surface.

That's pretty much the definition of "neurosis."

 

[Nonsensical]

it's not physiological, it's psychological.

and it sounds like an attachment that can actually be a result of anxiety (it sounds like). sort of like a nervous habit.

don't worry. it's not bad. it's water and you can't drink enough water.

it's also not diabetes. that's a ridiculous assumption. you'd know if you had or were developing diabetes.

 

[Lark]

Is neurosis even still a clinically used term?

Water intake seems harmless enough, I've often heard that people can develop obsessions with random things in order to direct their attention away from their real anxieties. Maybe try to assess whether anything is going on beneath the surface.

I'm not sure it is, it wasnt consistently used anyway.

Freud thought it was indicated by psycho-somatic symptomology and it was an illness which could be cured through an intervention aimed at bringing to consciousness the repression of childhood trauma, or reliving of trauma in the form of adult complexes.

Jung had similiar perspectives but had a different view of both what constituted a complex and curative factors.

Karen Horney had a different definition which I think makes more sense, she would talk about a neurotic trend, it wasnt an illness per se but a pattern of thinking and behaviour. Eric Fromm's views where similar, he talked about how you had to be neurotic to function in a society which rewards and reprimands reflected a degree of neurosis.

The only "story" from psychoanalysis that I can think of in relation to this kind of compulsive behaviour is Erik Erikson, I think it was EE, who told an alcoholic who had a thirst phobia to go and watch cactus' growing in a botanic garden, the guy did so and gradually came to comprehend that like the plant he could survive without constantly taking in fluids.

I'd say its a problem in so far as its becoming an obsticle to functioning, plenty of people are what would've been labelled functional neurotics at one time or another, there's a serious push on to depathologise behaviour and thinking, everyone is quirky or odd but no one is sick anymore.

Criteria about experiencing suffering as a consequence of particular thoughts and behaviours isnt even always applied anymore when making a diagnosis because its often decided that it subjective misery caused by objective social pressures. So you get CBT encouraging stoicism and large scale social movements commanding everyone to make a change to relief the subjectively experienced misery of the few. I dont know, I really dont have the answers about this topic anymore.

 

[Totenkindly]

When I was in second grade, I got sick and my mom came to school to pick me up. I had turned white (as I always do), and the school nurse suggested to my mom I might have diabetes.

My mom was a registered nurse for her entire career and was upset with the school nurse for making such a diagnosis since it was based merely on one criteria that could apply to a multiplicity of situations. She also knew that, when I got sick, I got pale.

(No, I didn't have diabetes.)

I even worried about it later in life, with other symptoms, and the doctor was upset with me for jumping to conclusions because my thoughts were erroneous on the matter.

To me, your situation sound far more psychological than physiological.

 

[Chloe]

When I was in second grade, I got sick and my mom came to school to pick me up. I had turned white (as I always do), and the school nurse suggested to my mom I might have diabetes.

I dont know how reasonable was the action of your school nurse in your case, but I dont know what's wrong with warning someone to check that. Only suggesting to check, not making diagnosis.

I was warned when I was 15 that my thyroid gland is a bit swollen, I ignored the warning and when I was 19 I got completely constipated for 5 days and found out I have thyroid disease for few years already. In those years I had very slow metabolism but I thought it's genetic.

Better safe than sorry.

 

[Nonsensical]

It's funny, through my neurosis I've actually worried and worked myself into a nervous frenzy thinking I've had diabetes before. It's all psychological though, I'm perfectly healthy.

 

[Sunny Ghost]

funny thread. agreed, psychological, not physiological.

when i was experiencing extreme neurosis, not only was i paranoid and avoidant, but i also constantly obsessed about how i might have this disease, or that virus. "maybe i have cancer." "oh god, i'm pregnant." "i'm going to die of this disease that there is no cure for!" every symptom led me to believe i would probably die.

i agree, there were definitely underlying emotional causes.

 

[Nonsensical]

funny thread. agreed, psychological, not physiological.

when i was experiencing extreme neurosis, not only was i paranoid and avoidant, but i also constantly obsessed about how i might have this disease, or that virus. "maybe i have cancer." "oh god, i'm pregnant." "i'm going to die of this disease that there is no cure for!" every symptom led me to believe i would probably die.

i agree, there were definitely underlying emotional causes.

werd.

 

[gromit]

Hm. I don't think I have any of the other risk factors for diabetes... obesity or cholesterol or blood pressure (?). Next time I'm at the doctor I'll try to remember to check. It doesn't feel like I'm drinking more water than I used to, just that I'm more concerned about there being enough water for me to drink. That is a good point that maybe it's some other anxiety. There have been several somewhat stressful events which occurred earlier this year that I couldn't really control. I will consider some more.

It's a little bit silly almost, because, of all the things you could obsess over, drinking water is probably one of the healthiest (physiologically speaking), right?

 

[Nonsensical]

Hm. I don't think I have any of the other risk factors for diabetes... obesity or cholesterol or blood pressure (?). Next time I'm at the doctor I'll try to remember to check. It doesn't feel like I'm drinking more water than I used to, just that I'm more concerned about there being enough water for me to drink. That is a good point that maybe it's some other anxiety. There have been several somewhat stressful events which occurred earlier this year that I couldn't really control. I will consider some more.

It's a little bit silly almost, because, of all the things you could obsess over, drinking water is probably one of the healthiest (physiologically speaking), right?

Correct. It would make 0 sense if it was a physiological thing. It makes perfect sense. I wouldn't worry too much about worrying. And chances are, it will pass soon.

 

[La de Longe]

That's pretty much the definition of "neurosis."

I guess so, I just meant that I don't think anyone gets diagnosed with having a "neurosis" these days. But who can really keep up with psychoanalytic terminology (actually I don't think anyone uses psychoanalytic anymore either).

 

[Sunny Ghost]

It's a little bit silly almost, because, of all the things you could obsess over, drinking water is probably one of the healthiest (physiologically speaking), right?

honestly, it's kinda a cute neurosis.

 

[onemoretime]

I guess so, I just meant that I don't think anyone gets diagnosed with having a "neurosis" these days. But who can really keep up with psychoanalytic terminology (actually I don't think anyone uses psychoanalytic anymore either).

You're right that no one is told that they have a neurosis, because they're seen as more symptomatic than pathological. The important part is focusing on the underlying issues that evoke the neurotic behavior.

 

[Nonsensical]

my neurosis gives me insomnia.

 

[gromit]

I just noticed this on facebook... Photographic. Evidence.

 

[Chloe]

you seem like in heaven on both pics