Neurasthenia

Neurasthenia (also known as Neuralgia) was a term first coined by Beard in 1869 to describe a condition with symptoms of fatigue, anxiety and pessimism. It was explained as being a result of exhaustion of the central nervous system's energy reserves which Beard attributed to civilisation. In the late 1800s it became a popular diagnosis and led to rest cures.

Physicians at the time frequently associated Neurasthenia with the stresses of urbanization and the pressures placed on the intellectual class by the increasingly competitive business environment. Typically, it was associated with upper class individuals in sedentary employment.

It was a common diagnosis in World War I - every one of the c.1700 officers processed through the Craiglockhart War Hospital was diagnosed with neurasthenia, for example - but its use declined a decade later.

The symptoms are similar to what is now termed fibromyalgia.

See also

• chronic fatigue syndrome
• hypochondriasis
• combat stress reaction

References

• Neuraesthenia revisited: ICD-10 and DSM-III-R psychiatric syndromes in chronic fatigue patients and comparison subjects
• Chronic fatigue syndrome: a true illness

See also: Neurasthenia, 1800s, 1869, Anxiety, Central nervous system, Chronic fatigue syndrome, Combat stress reaction, Craiglockhart War Hospital, Fatigue (physical), Fibromyalgia