4 Ways to See Neuroticism As A Strength

This post was developed via a partnership with BetterHelp.

Neuroticism is a personality trait that is typically associated with higher levels of anxiety, cynicism, and timidness. While it can vary in severity, people that exhibit symptoms of neurotic behavior can be seen as negative and critical.

However, there are many ways a person can turn neuroticism into a strength. It can help them develop a balanced viewpoint of stressful situations, cope with challenging events, and stay prepared for professional and social interactions. When working on a new startup plan or entrepreneurial endeavor, you can use neurotic thought processes to your advantage as one of many ways to cope with the stress of running a startup.

Brief periods of high neuroticism can be helpful during stressful situations and those with neurosis can find treatment and coping mechanisms for their daily lives. However, it’s important to remember that if you’re experiencing frequent symptoms of anxiety, self-doubt, and depression, this could be evidence of other underlying mental health conditions. For more information on neuroticism, neurosis, and personality traits, BetterHelp is an online mental health resource that can provide you with helpful guidance here: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/neuroticism/.

1.  Self-Defense

While anxiety and cynicism are seen as negative traits, they can actually be useful in finding healthy ways to build up mental self-defense. When something feels uncomfortable or risky, a person’s anxiety and stress levels may heighten, or they may approach the situation with skepticism. Instead of leaning into that neurotic mindset, it’s important to remember that these are red flags your brain is throwing in front of you. Take a moment to question the situation and your response; by looking closer at your emotions and reactions, you may be able to find the reason behind your avoidance and come to a solution that could potentially help everyone involved.

2.  Preparedness

In the same way, neurotic behavior can help individuals build mental self-defense, it can also help them to become more prepared in life. Studies have shown that individuals with neuroticism may harness their anxiety and stress to create a critical analysis of the problem or activity ahead of them. A critical analysis of a situation doesn’t necessarily mean neurotic people are dwelling on the negative aspects; instead, they can develop a game plan for the future with the inclusion of potentially negative factors. In doing so, they’re more likely to develop backup and contingency plans in an effort to reduce the effects of something gone wrong.

3.  Stress Management

Managing stress levels is an important skill for anyone involved in a startup. However, those with neuroticism may already have the skills necessary to balance out their mindset during times of high stress. People that occasionally have times of high neuroticism are known to view situations more negatively and therefore prepare themselves for disappointment. This can, in fact, be a useful tool in reducing stress. If you’re already planning for negative possibilities, you’re more likely to have these situations covered and thought out. Those with neurotic mindsets can turn stressful situations into a call to action and may become more motivated to find a course of action with the highest probability of success.

4.  Coping Capabilities

Finally, by developing strong mental self-defense, preparedness, and stress management skills, neurotic individuals can work to find effective treatments and coping mechanisms. By seeing these traits as strengths, it can help individuals to work through practices and learning exercises with the self-reflection some people may struggle with. This can not only help them to find improvements and more effective coping strategies based on their triggers and needs, but it can also encourage them to drop harmful habits or unhelpful practices faster. In doing so, they aren’t exhausting themselves to try to make a coping mechanism work.

The main thing to remember is that neuroticism comes in varying severity and needs to be treated on an individual basis. Some people will be affected more often or more severely by negative thought processes which means not every treatment will have the same result. As such, those that have neurotic behavior will benefit from self-reflection and understanding of their habits, triggers, and defense strategies. By working with pessimism, anxiety, or self-doubt as a strength and self-defense system, these individuals can turn their neurotic personality traits into helpful, stress management practices.