Anonymous
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Search
Editing
Neurasthenia
From MEpedia, a crowd-sourced encyclopedia of ME and CFS science and history
Namespaces
Page
Discussion
More
More
Page actions
Read
Edit
Edit source
History
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
'''Neurasthenia''' is an old (19th Century) name for weakness of the physical nerves. It was first used in 1829 to be a mechanical weakness of the actual nerves. In 1869, an American neurologist, George Miller Beard, started using the term to mean metaphorical nerves,{{citation needed | date = Sep 2020}} i.e., [[anxiety|anxiousness]], [[stress]], or [[depression]]. In 1871, an American physician, S. Weir Mitchell, wrote the book, ''Wear and Tear, or Hints for the Overworked'', detailing his belief that the condition was a result of the demands of modern life in the industrial era.<ref>Mitchell, S.W.(1891).''Wear and Tear, or Hints for the Overworked''. Philadelphia, PA:J.B. Lippincott Company. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13197/13197-h/13197-h.htm</ref> The term began to transition out of use in medical pathophysiology to being used in psychopathology. When used in psychology, the term describes a vague disorder marked by chronic abnormal fatigability, moderate depression, [[concentration problems|inability to concentrate]], loss of appetite, [[insomnia]], and other symptoms.<ref>Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. (2003). Retrieved July 13 2016 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/neurasthenia</ref> The secondary symptoms were ill-defined and abundant, including headaches, [[myalgia|muscle aches]] and pain, dizziness, weight loss, [[irritability]], inability to relax, [[anxiety]], impotence, “a lack of ambition,” lethargy, [[insomnia]] or [[hypersomnia]], [[Tachycardia|"racing heart"]], and [[excessive sweating]].<ref>''International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision'' Retrieved from http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2016/en#/F48.0</ref><ref>McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. (2002). Retrieved July 13 2016 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/neurasthenia</ref> It became a catch-all for nearly any kind of discomfort or unhappiness that couldn't be explained with a known medical condition.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Beck|first =Julie | date = Mar 2016| title = ‘Americanitis’: The Disease of Living Too Fast|website=The Atlantic|url=http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/03/the-history-of-neurasthenia-or-americanitis-health-happiness-and-culture/473253/}}</ref> Since ME/CFS presents with similar symptoms, many patients with ME/CFS were given the psychological diagnosis of neurasthenia. [[Simon Wessely]] has written about neurasthenia and [[myalgic encephalomyelitis|ME]]. In the essay, ''Old wine in new bottles: neurasthenia and 'ME''', he wrote: <blockquote>"Evidence is presented of the striking resonances between neurasthenia and ME. A simple explanation is that clinicians in both the modern and Victorian periods are describing a similar neurobiological syndrome, of excessive fatigability: supported by the similarity of the clinical case histories. Current medical research into the relationship of viruses to fatigue states (Yousef et al. 1988), which is of undeniable importance, may therefore be seen as an renewed effort to solve a clinical problem common to both contemporary and nineteenth century medicine. Such work attempts to answer the question posed by Wechsler (1930): 'The suspicion is justified that "true" neurasthenia is an organic disease in the sense that as yet undemonstrable pathologic changes are the cause of the symptom and not the result of psychogenic processes. How much truth there is in such a view only further studies will determine.' However, further studies have failed to fully answer the question, and will continue to fail as neither neurasthenia nor ME fits into such a simple medical model."<ref>Wessely, S. (1990) Old wine in new bottles: neurasthenia and 'ME.' ''Psychological Medicine'', 20, pp 35-53. Retrieved from http://www.simonwessely.com/Downloads/Other/OldWine.pdf</ref></blockquote> The term, neurasthenia, has been retired as a diagnosis in the American Psychiatric Association's ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders''<ref>https://dxrevisionwatch.com/dsm-5-drafts/dsm-5-ssd-work-group/</ref>, however, it is still used as a diagnosis in the 2016 version of the [[World Health Organization|World Health Organization's]] ''International Classification of Diseases'' (ICD-10) under the diagnostic code F48.0.<ref>{{Cite web | title = International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems|edition=10th Revision | date = 2016 | url=http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2016/en#/F48.0 | last = World Health Organization | authorlink = World Health Organization | first = }}</ref> The World Health Organization's [[ICD-11]] has removed the definition, but is not yet in use worldwide.{{citation needed | date = Sep 2020}} == See also == * [[Idiopathic chronic fatigue]] * [[Depression]] * [[Epidemic neuromyasthenia]] ==Learn more== *[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurasthenia Wikipedia - Neurasthenia] *2016, [http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/03/the-history-of-neurasthenia-or-americanitis-health-happiness-and-culture/473253/ ‘Americanitis’: The Disease of Living Too Fast] ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Psychological paradigm]] [[Category:Mental disorders]] [[Category:Diagnoses]]
Summary:
Please make sure your edits are consistent with
MEpedia's guidelines
.
By saving changes, you agree to the
Terms of use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 3.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Templates used on this page:
Template:Category handler
(
edit
)
Template:Citation needed
(
edit
)
Template:Cite news
(
edit
)
Template:Cite web
(
edit
)
Template:Colon
(
edit
)
Template:Digits
(
edit
)
Template:Fix
(
edit
)
Template:Fix/category
(
view source
) (protected)
Template:GetFallback
(
edit
)
Template:LangSwitch
(
edit
)
Template:Last word
(
edit
)
Template:Main other
(
edit
)
Template:Reflist
(
edit
)
Template:Str len
(
edit
)
Template:Uselang
(
edit
)
Template:Year
(
edit
)
Module:Arguments
(
edit
)
Module:Category handler
(
edit
)
Module:Category handler/blacklist
(
edit
)
Module:Category handler/config
(
edit
)
Module:Category handler/data
(
edit
)
Module:Category handler/shared
(
edit
)
Module:Check for unknown parameters
(
edit
)
Module:Citation/CS1
(
edit
)
Module:Citation/CS1/COinS
(
edit
)
Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration
(
edit
)
Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation
(
edit
)
Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers
(
edit
)
Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities
(
edit
)
Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist
(
edit
)
Module:Namespace detect/config
(
edit
)
Module:Namespace detect/data
(
edit
)
Module:No globals
(
edit
)
Module:String
(
edit
)
Module:Unsubst
(
edit
)
Module:Yesno
(
edit
)
This page is a member of 2 hidden categories:
Category:All articles with unsourced statements
Category:Articles with unsourced statements from 2020
Navigation
Navigation
Skip to content
Main page
Browse
Become an editor
Random page
Popular pages
Abbreviations
Glossary
About MEpedia
Links for editors
Contents
Guidelines
Recent changes
Pages in need
Search
Help
Wiki tools
Wiki tools
Special pages
Page tools
Page tools
User page tools
More
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Page logs