ABSTRACT
Neuroses are the ones which constitute the problem of neurosis as it confronts the medical profession and which is responsible for an enormous amount of human unhappiness and wastage of potential. Since the symptoms of a neurosis may include complaints of physical distress, the first stage in the diagnosis of a neurosis is to ascertain that there are no signs of organic illness. Since, however, medical knowledge and methods of examination are not perfect, the proof that any physical complaint is in fact of psychological origin cannot be based solely on the negative evidence that all known physical illnesses have been excluded. In psychosis, however, the ability to evaluate thoughts, actions and moods in the light of common sense and to assess their significance and place in the totality of their being is lost.
