According to May, the person experiencing neurotic anxiety:
has been born into a situation that they cannot control but within which they can make choices
conforms to tradition, religious dogma, the expectation of others, or anything else that reduces their need to make personal choices
has an abnormal level of fear or nervousness about unpleasant events that are extremely unlikely to actually occur
recognizes the world does not exist without humans and that humans do not exist without the world, and feels troubled by this