Neuroticism – a big five personality trait defines a person’s ability to stay inclined towards the negative outlook. It is about you expressing your negative emotions. Having high neuroticism score means getting a bit easily affected by a difficult circumstance. It makes a person an over-thinker, and he/she starts having gloomy thoughts and feelings related to situations and their outcomes. Neuroticism is a significant personality trait since it deals with the negative side of the personality traits all over.
This personality trait brings with it a wave of obstructive emotions such as anxiety, fear, stress, etc. For this reason, many people may regard it as a psychological disorder. High neuroticism level may lead to neurosis, which is a mild disorder. However, Psychosis is a real personality disorder.
Neuroticism is a personality trait that makes a person inclined towards some fatalistic emotions. Further, these emotions are caused due to unavoidable circumstances and a person’s capability to handle any problematic situation.
How Would You Know If A Person Has A Neurotic Personality?
You can get an answer to this question once you take a neuroticism test and understand your scores. Neuroticism is a personality trait in the big five models. You can learn more about the big five model and other personality traits to get a better insight into your personality.
The Big Five Personality Traits Model includes the traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and, Neuroticism. Every personality trait has its highs and lows, and so does neuroticism. Better find out what your score means.
High Neuroticism Score
Are you scared as you scored high on neuroticism, because of it being often compared to psychological disorders?
Don’t worry! There is nothing to be scared of because the reality of neuroticism is different from what is perceived. It is essential for you to know your level of neuroticism and understand what your score means.
If you score high on the neuroticism personality trait, you are most likely to be:
Inclined towards Negative Emotions
People who score high in neuroticism tend to take things negatively. Moreover, they tend to have an obstructive outlook, making them see only the wrong part of the picture. For them, even a little situation is like a disaster; a debate becomes a controversy; fear becomes anxiety and understanding becomes stress.
Moody
If you score high on neuroticism, you may have sudden mood swings. You can easily get annoyed and irritated. You are most likely to experience feelings such as anxiety, fear, sadness or depression.
Self-Loathing
When you are high on neuroticism, you often lose your self-confidence and start doubting yourself. Such persons have low self-esteem and start blaming themselves for everything that goes wrong with them. They tend to have feelings of being self-conscious or shy. All this may eventually lead to a sense of self-hatred.
Insecure
Having a high score in neuroticism also expresses your insecurity. You might lack self-confidence and think that you are inferior to others. You perceive others as selfish and a threat for yourself. Your insecurities can also make you nervous and vulnerable.
Pessimist
High scorers in neuroticism tend to have a pessimistic approach towards life. They are more cynical and always expect the worst out of any situation. They are generally inclined towards worst outcomes.
Is being neurotic a good thing?
Being neurotic does not always mean you will be sad, anxious or depressed all the time. However, it does mean that you will possess a high level of at least any 3 to 4 sub-traits of neuroticism, which is not a good sign for overall emotional and mental health.
Some people know how they can take advantage of their personality and use it in the right way. But, most of us are unaware of our personality and its traits, meaning we don’t know how to use them for our good.
Hence you must know what your personality type is. If you know more about the sub-traits of big-five personality traits, you will understand the need to learn how to control all your negative emotions and thoughts.
Medium Score in Neuroticism
Being a medium scorer makes a person less vulnerable to all the negative emotions, ready to attack. This does not mean, medium scorers are not neurotic(?). There is a pinch of neuroticism in every person, and only a few know how to overcome that. Moreover, very few people understand what it means, what are the feelings and emotions that come with neuroticism and what the signs of neuroticism are.
Emotional Stability
Medium score means your emotional reactivity is not much different from non-neurotic personality types. You may get easily upset In stressful situations. However, you do get over such emotions quickly and move on. Until and unless we have got a particular personality test done, we cannot judge whether we have it or not.
Less Anxiousness
Medium scorers are less anxious; they do not take things directly to the negative end. They may worry but not as excessively as a high neurotic person. If you have a medium score, there are chances you may overthink or get serious over something insignificant, but you won’t hold on to it for much longer and will eventually get back to normal soon.
Stable Relationships
Having a medium score gives you the ability to build stable relationships, where you are not just practical but also a bit more expressive and open. You have a low tendency to hide your emotions for long.
Workplace Difficulties
Medium scorers are not as touchy as a high scorer in neuroticism, but a medium score makes you open for difficulties at the workplace. You may fear to speak out or get into a discussion, making you less of a potential employee. You need to know what skills you are lagging and start working on them.
Low Neuroticism Score
You may consider yourself as exceptional if you score low in neuroticism. Your scores express your personality. Hence, your low score means you are:
Calm and Poised
A low score in neuroticism says that you are exceptionally calm and don’t tend to stress in any disturbing situation. You are probably known for your calm and composed behaviour! Your low score indicates that you are well poised and don’t lose control over their emotions. You are less prone to anger, keeping a peaceful persona.
Emotionally Stable
If you score low on neuroticism, a high level of emotional stability could be seen in you. You don’t lose control over your emotions. You have tact for handling your feelings in difficult times. Such people know what, where and how to express.
Carefree
Your low scores in this facet mean that you have a carefree attitude. Also, you do not give much thought to what people say, until and unless it’s essential for you to or benefits you. You don’t worry much and tend to remain happy and relaxed.
Optimist
Lower rates of neuroticism indicate an optimistic attitude. Low scorers are generally inclined towards hopes and believe in the best outcomes. They assume that skillfully takes the bad away, eventually. They have a faithful approach towards life and believe that no matter how bad the situation is, they will get over it soon.
Self Confidence
People who score less in neuroticism can perform better in career and professional life. They lack the fear of judgment and hence possess a high self- confidence. All this keeps them ahead of many other people.
Can you Change your Neuroticism Score?
Changing your neuroticism score means changing yourself. It may seem that you can’t change how you are and how you think. However, you can bring a positive change in your life by consistent efforts. Starting from relaxing every once in a while and building up to dealing with stressful situations calmly, you can become a better version of yourself.
You can adopt these small habits:
- Stepping back and taking deep breaths: Whenever you feel overwhelmed by a situation, stop thinking, close your eyes and take deep breaths.
- Think before you react: Every little action we take impacts us and others around us. Make sure before you burst out in anger you ask yourself, is this reaction required?
- Accept the things you don’t have control over: try to practice acceptance of the things that you can’t change. It does not mean that don’t act against something, instead learn to know the difference between things to fight for and things to let be.
- Train your mind to see the good in every situation, even the bad ones.
All of it is going to require is your will and determination. It is all about breaking the negative thought cycle and cultivating positivity in yourself.
Conclusion
Getting a high, low or a medium score in neuroticism tells you how neurotic you are and what are your capabilities and weaknesses. Once you know your score, you can understand what your personality type is and what you need to improve about yourself.
The self-assessment is much needed in the current scenario for better growth. You need to maintain a good sense of responsibility for your reactions, which are the reflection of your personality. And hence makes it a necessity for you to know more about your overall personality and help you to understand and alternate it.
An easier way to know more about your personality is to take big personality tests on the HelloSkills App, and their sub-traits tests could also be useful. So don’t wait, get started and move forward by building a better skill set.
