Neurosis (or psychoneurosis) is a mental disorder that causes frequent feelings of anxiety, depression, or other feelings of distress that are not normal to the circumstances of life. This can affect any and all areas of life, whether being everyday activities to relationships. Generally though, the conditions aren't severe enough to completely remove the neurotic from a normal life. Those suffering usually don't lose sense with reality as is a symptom of the much more dire psychosis. During the mid 19th century the term neurosis was keyed to characterize disorders that were neurological in origin. However, some twenty-five to thirty years later, the prefix "psycho" was added when it was discovered that the symptoms were mental and emotional as well.
             Psychoanalytic tradition suggests that psychoneurosis is caused by intrapsychic conflicts, which are conflicts between drives, impulses, and or motives that are stored in different components of the mind. Sigmund Frued theorized that the postulated existence of some unconscious part of the mind amidst it's other functions, suppresses certain thoughts memories, or feelings that are unacceptable to the conscious mind. These repressed items are generally sexual are aggressive desires or thoughts or painful emotions or feelings. They cause anxiety when these things try to enter the conscious mind. The mind then responds to the upcoming feeling by attempting to push them back into their suppressed state. The mind uses defense mechanisms such as repression, denial or reaction formation. Neurosis begins when these defense mechanisms fail and "forbidden" impulses begin to appear in the conscious mind once again. Some believe that neurosis is a learned response to stress that can be unlearned. This would mean that the neurotic aren't sick necessarily, but have certain maladaptive habits based on self-conditioning and possibly observation of others while young.
             ...