What are the differences between mental illness and neurosis?

Mental illness is an increasingly serious problem in modern life, leading to more and more social problems and bringing great pressure to the lives of patients and related people. Therefore, modern medicine pays great attention to mental illness and conducts in-depth research and treatment. Similar to mental illness is neurosis. So, what are the differences between mental illness and neurosis?

Many people mistakenly believe that neurosis is mental illness. In fact, mental illness and neurosis are two completely different types of diseases. Mental illness refers to a disease in which the brain function is disordered and the prominent manifestation is mental disorder; neurosis refers to a disease in which the tissues of the nervous system are pathologically changed or their functions are impaired. Psychosis mainly presents "mental disorder", while neurosis emphasizes the pathological changes in the organization of the nervous system. Let us illustrate this with an example.

The difference between neurosis and psychosis

Neurology refers to diseases of the nervous system. Common diseases include cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, poliomyelitis, cerebral palsy, peripheral neuritis, Parkinson's disease, brain trauma, epilepsy, facial paralysis, etc. These diseases are caused by various reasons that lead to organic damage to the nervous system tissues such as the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, resulting in nervous system dysfunction. The main symptoms are numbness, limb paralysis, convulsions, limb movement disorders, impaired consciousness, etc. General thinking ability and judgment are normal.

Mental illness is manifested by persistent and obvious abnormalities in psychological activities such as cognition, emotion, thinking, will, action, and behavior; inability to study, work, and live normally; actions and behaviors that are difficult for ordinary people to understand and appear strange and different; under the control of morbid psychology, actions and behaviors such as suicide, aggression, and harm to others; and varying degrees of self-awareness defects. Except for a small number of people who suffer from organic diseases, most patients cannot find a clear cause and can only be diagnosed based on symptoms.

Mental illness must be treated mainly with psychotropic drugs, supplemented by psychotherapy.

The treatment of neurosis is mainly based on psychotherapy, supplemented by drug therapy.