Neurasthenia and chronic fatigue syndrome: the role of culture in the making of a diagnosis.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is an increasingly popular diagnosis consisting of multiple psychiatric and somatic symptoms. It bears a striking resemblance to the nineteenth-century diagnosis of neurasthenia. Both disorders arose during periods characterized by a preoccupation with commerce and material success and major changes in the role of women. They illustrate the role of culture in the development of a new diagnosis that emphasizes a "medical" rather than "psychiatric" etiology. The authors argue that chronic fatigue syndrome will meet the same fate as neurasthenia--a decline in social value as it is demonstrated that the majority of its sufferers are experiencing primary psychiatric disorders or psychophysiological reactions and that the disorder is often a culturally sanctioned form of illness behavior.
Abbey
S E
SE
Department of Psychiatry, Toronto Hospital, Ont., Canada.
Garfinkel
P E
PE
D003469:Culture; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009440:Neurasthenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012803:Sick Role