Neurasthenia was a term first coined by George Miller 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. 1869 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Fatigue is a feeling of excessive tiredness or lethargy, with a desire to rest, perhaps to sleep. ... Anxiety is a complex combination of the feeling of fear, apprehension and worry often accompanied by physical sensations such as palpitations, chest pain and/or shortness of breath. ... Pessimism, generally, describes a belief that things are bad, and tend to become worse; or that looks to the eventual triumph of evil over good; it contrasts with optimism, the contrary belief in the goodness and betterment of things generally. ... The vertebrate central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord. ... Events and Trends Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815). ...
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. The term upper class refers to a group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. ...
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. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Craiglockhart is located in Edinburgh, Scotland. ...
The symptoms are similar to what is now termed fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a debilitating chronic syndrome (constellation of signs and symptoms) characterized by diffuse pain, fatigue, and a wide range of other symptoms. ...
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) and various other names, is a disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by a number of features, the most common and notable one being severe fatigue, usually made worse by even modest exertion. ... Hypochondria (sometimes hypochondriasis) is the unfounded belief that one is suffering from a serious illness. ... The military term combat stress reaction (CSR) comprises the range of adverse behaviours in reaction to the stress of combat and combat related activities. ...
References
Neuraesthenia revisited: ICD-10 and DSM-III-R psychiatric syndromes in chronic fatigue patients and comparison subjects
Neurasthenia covers a wide spectrum of symptoms, including painful sensations or numbness in parts of the body, chronic fatigue, anxiety, and fainting.
Neurasthenia, the third disorder of the 1870s, was a more prestigious and attractive form of female nervousness than hysteria, although it shared so many of hysteria's symptoms that even specialists could not always distinguish between the two.
The cause of Neurasthenia remain unknown however like most disorders, certain predisposing factors may play an important part, chief of which may be mentioned heredity factors, occupation (high stress occupations), age (tends to occurs between 20 and 55 years of age), and sex (predominantly see in males).
Thus we have, as the cardinal symptoms of the indigestion of neurasthenia, atony, delay, and enfeeblement.
In mild cases of neurasthenia or in convalescent cases cold water is well borne, and is followed by a healthy reaction, but this is not the case when the neurasthenia is at all marked or the vasomotor tone is at all deficient.
However, cases of neurasthenia are met with which are so profound that the mere effort of sitting up in bed or turning from side to side is sufficient to cause distress.
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