Neuroticism refers to a broad personality trait that allows a person to experience several anxious and negative emotions. It is one of the five personality traits of the ‘Big Five Personality Theory’ along with Extroversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness.
What Is Neuroticism?
Neuroticism is a human personality trait usually defined as a tendency toward negative feelings and emotions. In psychology and development, it is a significant personality trait that can be characterized by a variety of negative emotional states, such as anger, irritability, emotional instability, self-consciousness, depression, and many more. The term is derived from the concept of ‘neurosis’ which is considered a complex mental health disorder involving obsessive thoughts, anxiety, and chronic distress.
However, the term ‘neurosis’ was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1980. It is not a psychological condition but a personality trait in which the world seems extremely distressing, unsafe, and threatening to a person. A neurotic person is more likely to feel dissatisfied with his/her life, report even minor health problems, and face adjustment issues in a wide range of situations.
A 2009 research paper 1 Haas, B. W., Constable, R. T., & Canli, T. (2008). Stop the sadness: Neuroticism is associated with sustained medial prefrontal cortex response to emotional facial expressions. NeuroImage, 42(1), 385–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.04.027 described Neuroticism as “a personality trait associated with negative mood states, sensitivity to negative information, negative appraisal and vulnerability to psychopathology.” The study says that it involves enhanced emotional and cognitive processing of negative affective stimuli.
Like any other personality, it is mostly measured by a sliding scale ranging from high to low where high implies emotional instability and low defines emotional stability. People with high neuroticism are more likely to be in long-term negative emotional states, respond poorly to environmental distress, explain ordinary situations threateningly, and experience minor distress as extremely overwhelming, according to a 2017 study 2 Widiger, T. A., & Oltmanns, J. R. (2017). Neuroticism is a fundamental domain of personality with enormous public health implications. World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 16(2), 144–145. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20411 .
Read More About DSM Here
Understanding Neuroticism
Neuroticism is a significant personality trait that can be characterized by persistent and disproportionate worrying and anxiety. That’s why neurotic behaviors are often misinterpreted as anxiety disorder and vice-versa. But recent research 3 He, Y., Li, A., Li, K., & Xiao, J. (2021). Neuroticism vulnerability factors of anxiety symptoms in adolescents and early adults: an analysis using the bi-factor model and multi-wave longitudinal model. PeerJ, 9, e11379. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11379 suggests that neuroticism and anxiety disorder are not similar rather the vulnerable factors of this personality trait hugely contribute to the development of anxiety symptoms in adolescents and young adults. Research 4 Martin M. Smith, Donald H. Saklofske, David W. Nordstokke, The link between neuroticism and perfectionistic concerns: The mediating effect of trait emotional intelligence, Personality and Individual Differences, Volumes 61–62, 2014, Pages 97-100, ISSN 0191-8869, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.12.013 says that a person with this trait often tries to be a perfectionist even in his/her daily activities and suffer from stress as a result of extreme anxiety. This trait forces one to focus on the negative aspects of every situation rather than positive ones.
Studies 5 Headey, B., Muffels, R., & Wagner, G. G. (2010). Long-running German panel survey shows that personal and economic choices, not just genes, matter for happiness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(42), 17922–17926. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1008612107 have shown that neuroticism is associated with a few behavioral tendencies that have wide-ranging effects, mostly negative. For example, the partners of people with high neuroticism are more likely to be less happy, as compared to those whose partners have low levels of this personality trait. Though neurotic personalities are believed to be connected with negative connotations, it refers to a person’s emotional ability also.
The core matter of it is how well a neurotic personality can deal with stressful situations. According to researchers 6 Lahey B. B. (2009). Public health significance of neuroticism. The American psychologist, 64(4), 241–256. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015309 , people with a neurotic personality tend to struggle a lot in adjusting to different situations, experience trouble in dealing with stress, complain about every possible thing, have poor self-regulation abilities, have numerous negative emotions, and react strongly to perceived threats.
Common Traits Of Neuroticism
People with a high level of neuroticism have a broad range of negative characteristics. The following are some of the common neurotic traits that can be observed in a neurotic person:
- Negative emotions 7 Silverman, M. H., Wilson, S., Ramsay, I. S., Hunt, R. H., Thomas, K. M., Krueger, R. F., & Iacono, W. G. (2019). Trait neuroticism and emotion neurocircuitry: Functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence for a failure in emotion regulation. Development and psychopathology, 31(3), 1085–1099. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579419000610
- Personal dissatisfaction and insecurities 8 Ruggeri M, Pacati P, Goldberg D. Neurotics are dissatisfied with life, but not with services. The South Verona Outcome Project 7. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2003 Sep-Oct;25(5):338-44. doi: 10.1016/s0163-8343(03)00063-x. PMID: 12972225.
- Pessimistic nature about circumstances 9 Grossardt, B. R., Bower, J. H., Geda, Y. E., Colligan, R. C., & Rocca, W. A. (2009). Pessimistic, anxious, and depressive personality traits predict all-cause mortality: the Mayo Clinic cohort study of personality and aging. Psychosomatic medicine, 71(5), 491–500. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e31819e67db
- Self-doubt and low self-esteem 10 Schmitz N, Kugler J, Rollnik J. On the relation between neuroticism, self-esteem, and depression: results from the National Comorbidity Survey. Compr Psychiatry. 2003 May-Jun;44(3):169-76. doi: 10.1016/S0010-440X(03)00008-7. PMID: 12764703.
- Poor emotional stability 11 Rodríguez-Ramos, Á., Moriana, J. A., García-Torres, F., & Ruiz-Rubio, M. (2019). Emotional stability is associated with the MAOA promoter uVNTR polymorphism in women. Brain and behavior, 9(9), e01376. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1376
- Unable to handle stress 12 Uliaszek, A. A., Zinbarg, R. E., Mineka, S., Craske, M. G., Sutton, J. M., Griffith, J. W., Rose, R., Waters, A., & Hammen, C. (2010). The role of neuroticism and extraversion in the stress-anxiety and stress-depression relationships. Anxiety, stress, and coping, 23(4), 363–381. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615800903377264
- Extreme worry or anxiety 13 Bech, P., & Lindberg, L. (2014). It is never too late to treat anxiety neurosis or panic disorder with a serotonin-reuptake inhibitor. Oxford medical case reports, 2014(5), 100–101. https://doi.org/10.1093/omcr/omu039
- Self-consciousness 14 Muris, P., Meesters, C., & van Asseldonk, M. (2018). Shame on Me! Self-Conscious Emotions and Big Five Personality Traits and Their Relations to Anxiety Disorders Symptoms in Young, Non-Clinical Adolescents. Child psychiatry and human development, 49(2), 268–278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-017-0747-7
- Tendency of ruminating things 15 Lu, F. Y., Yang, W. J., Zhang, Q. L., & Qiu, J. (2017). Thought Control Ability Is Different from Rumination in Explaining the Association between Neuroticism and Depression: A Three-Study Replication. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 838. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00838
- Lack of resilience
- Anger and irritability 16 Ode, S., Robinson, M. D., & Wilkowski, B. M. (2008). Can One’s Temper be Cooled?: A Role for Agreeableness in Moderating Neuroticism’s Influence on Anger and Aggression. Journal of research in personality, 42(2), 295–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2007.05.007
- Tendency of seeing minor issues as overwhelming
- Feeling of guilt 17 Brinitzer W. (1944). A Neurotic Guilt-Complex Uncovered. The Indian medical gazette, 79(7), 315–319.
- Depression or chronic sadness 18 Xia, J., He, Q., Li, Y., Xie, D., Zhu, S., Chen, J., Shen, Y., Zhang, N., Wei, Y., Chen, C., Shen, J., Zhang, Y., Gao, C., Li, Y., Ding, J., Shen, W., Wang, Q., Cao, M., Liu, T., Zhang, J., … Wang, X. (2011). The relationship between neuroticism, major depressive disorder and comorbid disorders in Chinese women. Journal of affective disorders, 135(1-3), 100–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2011.06.053
- Tendency of perceiving neutral situations as threatening
- Substance abuse 19 Turiano, N. A., Whiteman, S. D., Hampson, S. E., Roberts, B. W., & Mroczek, D. K. (2012). Personality and Substance Use in Midlife: Conscientiousness as a Moderator and the Effects of Trait Change. Journal of research in personality, 46(3), 295–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2012.02.009
- Weak immune system 20 Segerstrom, S. C., & Miller, G. E. (2004). Psychological stress and the human immune system: a meta-analytic study of 30 years of inquiry. Psychological bulletin, 130(4), 601–630. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.4.601
- Social anxiety and discomfort 21 Kaplan SC, Levinson CA, Rodebaugh TL, Menatti A, Weeks JW. Social anxiety and the Big Five personality traits: the interactive relationship of trust and openness. Cogn Behav Ther. 2015;44(3):212-22. doi: 10.1080/16506073.2015.1008032. Epub 2015 Feb 23. PMID: 25705989.
- Withdrawal when suffering from anxiety 22 Dorey JM, Rouch I, Padovan C, Boublay N, Pongan E, Laurent B; PACO Group, von Gunten A, Krolak-Salmon P. Neuroticism-Withdrawal and Neuroticism-Volatility Differently Influence the Risk of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Alzheimer’s Disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2020;74(1):79-89. doi: 10.3233/JAD-190884. PMID: 31985463.
- Volatile emotions
- Jealousy and feelings of envy 23 Xiang Y, Kong F, Wen X, Wu Q, Mo L. Neural correlates of envy: Regional homogeneity of resting-state brain activity predicts dispositional envy. Neuroimage. 2016 Nov 15;142:225-230. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.08.003. Epub 2016 Aug 4. PMID: 27498369.
Read More About Anger Here
Psychological Disorders Associated With Neuroticism
A 2015 research paper 24 Ormel, J., Jeronimus, B. F., Kotov, R., Riese, H., Bos, E. H., Hankin, B., Rosmalen, J., & Oldehinkel, A. J. (2013). Neuroticism and common mental disorders: meaning and utility of a complex relationship. Clinical psychology review, 33(5), 686–697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2013.04.003 has explained that neurotic behavior can develop from a few psychological disorders. It suggests that the broad range of neurotic personality traits is significantly associated with common mental health disorders, such as:
1. Generalized anxiety disorder
Studies 25 Małyszczak K, Pyszel A, Pawłowski T, Czarnecki M, Kiejna A. Lek uogólniony i neurotyzm u pacjentów chorych somatycznie [Generalized anxiety and neuroticism in patients suffering from somatic diseases]. Psychiatr Pol. 2008 Mar-Apr;42(2):219-28. Polish. PMID: 19697527. showed that people with an elevated level of neuroticism are much more vulnerable to developing anxiety disorders. A high level of neuroticism makes a person vulnerable to certain situations that often lead to the person developing anxiety symptoms. The symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder are similar to the characteristics that neurotic personalities have.
Read More About Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Here
2. Depression
A 2017 study 26 Navrady, L. B., Ritchie, S. J., Chan, S., Kerr, D. M., Adams, M. J., Hawkins, E. H., Porteous, D., Deary, I. J., Gale, C. R., Batty, G. D., & McIntosh, A. M. (2017). Intelligence and neuroticism in relation to depression and psychological distress: Evidence from two large population cohorts. European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists, 43, 58–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.12.012 says that people with a high level of neurotic personality traits are more likely to feel depressed, as compared to those with low levels of this personality trait. It is because neurotic personalities struggle a lot while dealing with stressful events and have poor emotional stability.
Read More About Major Depressive Disorder (Depression) Here
3. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
According to studies,27 Bergin, J., Verhulst, B., Aggen, S. H., Neale, M. C., Kendler, K. S., Bienvenu, O. J., & Hettema, J. M. (2014). Obsessive compulsive symptom dimensions and neuroticism: An examination of shared genetic and environmental risk. American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics, 165B(8), 647–653. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.b.32269 a high level of neuroticism is strongly interconnected with a higher prevalence of OCD. It implies that the symptoms and tendencies of OCD are quite prevalent among neurotic personalities.
Read More About Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Here
4. Social anxiety
Researchers 28 Kaplan SC, Levinson CA, Rodebaugh TL, Menatti A, Weeks JW. Social anxiety and the Big Five personality traits: the interactive relationship of trust and openness. Cogn Behav Ther. 2015;44(3):212-22. doi: 10.1080/16506073.2015.1008032. Epub 2015 Feb 23. PMID: 25705989. suggest that certain characteristics of neuroticism, such as self-consciousness, vulnerability, impulsiveness hugely contribute to the development of social phobia in a person. These neurotic traits often make it difficult for a person to interact or communicate freely with other people.
5. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
A high level of neuroticism increases the risk of PTSD by magnifying the emotionality, centrality, and availability of trauma memories of young adulthood or midlife, according to a 2018 research paper 29 Ogle, C. M., Siegler, I. C., Beckham, J. C., & Rubin, D. C. (2017). Neuroticism Increases PTSD Symptom Severity by Amplifying the Emotionality, Rehearsal, and Centrality of Trauma Memories. Journal of personality, 85(5), 702–715. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12278 The severity of PTSD symptoms in neurotic personalities largely depends on the cognitive-affective processes that increase the availability of their trauma memories.
Read More About Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Here
How Neuroticism Affects Relationships
A 2019 study 30 Hao, R., Dong, H., Zhang, R., Li, P., Zhang, P., Zhang, M., & Hu, J. (2019). The Relationship Between Neuroticism Fit and General Well-Being: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Resilience. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 2219. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02219 has shown that neuroticism is associated with a diminished quality of life that negatively impacts the personal relationships of those who have a higher level of this personality trait. The following are some of the negative effects of neuroticism that can even break a healthy relationship:
1. Guilt
People with a high level of neurotic personality traits often feel guilty about things that are not their fault. They tend to apologize for every single thing and ask for reassurance if the other person has forgiven them or not. It can become annoying to others after a certain point and he/she can lose interest in communicating with such people.
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2. Annoying nature
People with a high level of neurotic traits often become extremely annoying even to their loved ones. This mostly happens because neurotic people have a tendency to complain, be critical in minor issues, ask for reassurance, and be overly dependent on others.
3. Conflicts
Neurotic personalities are more prone to feel anger and irritability, and this nature makes them extremely enraged even over minor mistakes of others. It can create unnecessary conflicts between parents and children or two partners in a romantic relationship. Neurotic people also have a tendency to put all blame on others due to their own worry which can lead to arguments and conflicts.
4. Extreme worries
People with high neurotic traits can unintentionally pass on their worrying nature to their close ones. Children with neurotic parents often perceive that all situations are dangerous and can harm them. Additionally, they start to be cautious of threats all the time that can affect their mental health too.
5. Unreliability
Neurotic people often seem unreliable to others as they tend to panic at the sign of the smallest thing. Unreliability can have serious effects not only on personal relationships but can also create obstacles in the path of professional success.
Cope With Neuroticism
Neuroticism is not a psychological disorder rather a personality trait that involves a tendency towards negative emotions. That’s why there is no treatment to prevent such negative emotions, but a neurotic person can adopt some coping strategies to live a healthy life. One needs to focus on the positive aspects of different situations.
If any problems appear, it is important to focus on the problem and not on the emotion. Along with this, connecting with new people and making strong relationships without any hesitation can also bring positive impacts. However, if one is facing a lot of difficulties due to their high levels of neuroticism, they should consult with a mental health professional and seek medical support.
Neuroticism At A Glance
- Neuroticism is a broad personality trait that allows a person to experience several anxious and negative emotions.
- It can be characterized by many negative emotional states, such as anger, emotional instability, self-consciousness, depression.
- The vulnerable factors of this trait hugely contribute to the development of anxiety symptoms in adolescents and young adults.
- Generalized anxiety disorder, depression, social anxiety, PTSD, OCD are some psychological disorders associated with neuroticism.
- It is associated with a diminished quality of life that negatively impacts personal and professional relationships.
