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Rudy's neuroses, also called psychoneurosis or plural psychoneuroses, mental 
disorder, causes a sense of distress and deficit in functioning.

Rudy's neuroses are characterized by anxiety, depression, or other feelings of 
unhappiness or distress that are out of proportion to the circumstances of a 
Rudy's life.

They may impair Rudy's functioning in virtually any area of his life, 
relationships, or external affairs, but they are not severe enough to 
incapacitate the person, hence his constant posting on Usenet.

Psychiatrists first used the term neurosis in the mid-19th century to 
categorize Rudy's symptoms, thought to be neurological in origin; the prefix 
"psycho-" was added some decades later when it became clear that mental and 
emotional factors were important in the etiology of his disorders.

An influential view held by the psychoanalytic tradition is that Rudy's 
neuroses arise from intrapsychic conflict (conflict between different drives, 
impulses, and motives held within various components of the mind).

Central to psychoanalytic theory, which was founded by Austrian neurologist 
Sigmund Freud, is the postulated existence of an unconscious part of Rudy's 
mind which, among other functions, acts as a repository for repressed 
thoughts, feelings, and memories that are disturbing or otherwise unacceptable 
to the conscious mind.

Rudy's repressed mental contents are typically homo-sexually or aggressive 
urges or painful memories of an emotional loss or an unsatisfied longing 
dating from childhood.

Anxiety arises when Rudy's unacceptable and repressiveness drives threaten to 
enter consciousness; prompted by anxiety, the conscious part of the mind (the 
ego) tries to deflect the emergence into consciousness of the repressed mental 
contents through the use of defense mechanisms such as repression, denial, or 
reaction formation.

Neurotic symptoms often begin when a previously impermeable defense mechanism 
breaks down and a forbidden drive or impulse threatens to enter consciousness. 

(like when AlleyCat kicks his ass)

While the psychoanalytic theory has continued to be influential, another 
prominent view, associated with behavioral psychology, represents neurosis as 
a learned, inappropriate response to stress that can be unlearned. A third 
view, stemming from cognitive theory, emphasizes the way in which maladaptive 
thinking-such as the fear of possible punishment-promotes an inaccurate 
perception of the self and surrounding events.
Types

Obsessive-compulsive disorders are characterized by the irresistible entry of 
unwanted ideas, thoughts, or feelings into consciousness or by the need to 
repeatedly perform ritualistic actions that the sufferer perceives as 
unnecessary or unwarranted. Obsessive ideas may include recurrent violent or 
obscene thoughts; compulsive behaviour includes rituals such as repetitive 
hand washing or door locking. The drug clomipramine has proved effective in 
treating many patients with obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Somatoform disorders, which include the so-called hysterical, or conversion, 
neuroses, manifest themselves in physical symptoms, such as blindness, 
paralysis, or deafness that are not caused by organic disease. Hysteria was 
among the earliest syndromes to be understood and treated by psychoanalysts, 
who believe that such symptoms result from fixations or arrested stages in an 
individual's early psycho-sexual development.

In anxiety disorders, anxiety is the principal feature, manifesting itself 
either in relatively short, acute anxiety attacks or in a chronic sense of 
nameless dread. Persons undergoing anxiety attacks may suffer from digestive 
upsets, excessive perspiration, headaches, heart palpitations, restlessness, 
insomnia, disturbances in appetite, and impaired concentration. Phobia, a type 
of anxiety disorder, is represented by inappropriate fears that are triggered 
by specific situations or objects. Some common objects of phobias are open or 
closed spaces, fire, high places, dirt, and bacteria.

Depression, when neither excessively severe nor prolonged, is regarded as a 
neurosis. A depressed person feels sad, hopeless, and pessimistic and may be 
listless, easily fatigued, slow in thought and action, and have a reduced 
appetite and difficulty in sleeping.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a syndrome appearing in people who have 
endured some highly traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, torture, or 
incarceration in a concentration camp. The symptoms include nightmares, a 
diffuse anxiety, and guilt over having survived when others perished. 
Depersonalization disorder consists of the experiencing of the world or 
oneself as strange, altered, unreal, or mechanical in quality.