Neurosis and mortality: investigating an association

Neurosis is not a cause of death, but at follow-up neurotic patients are found to experience increased premature mortality. Suicide and accidental death are considerably increased in this group. There is also an excess of deaths from natural causes; amongst hypotheses to account for this there is some evidence to incriminate arteriosclerosis, and increased toxicity from cigarette smoke may be a factor. The increased mortality is not explained by confusion over the term depression. Those neurotic patients who subsequently die are more likely to have suffered from a more severe degree of neurosis at the time of initial treatment.