A disease of the nerves, now referred to as
personality or mental disturbance not due to any known neurological or organic
dysfunction, i.e., a psychoneurosis. This meaning, dominant since Freud, has
been used to denote an identifiable symptom that, although distressing and
painful, is relatively benign in that reality testing is intact. Recent years
have seen the use of the phrase neurotic disorder as a generic cover term for
any enduring mental disorder that is distressing, recognized by the individual
as unacceptable and alien, but contact with reality is maintained and there is
no demonstrated organic disorder.