Abstract:
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 . 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.
Comment in:
Taking chronic fatigue syndrome seriously. [Am J Psychiatry. 1992]
Taking chronic fatigue syndrome seriously. [Am J Psychiatry. 1992]
Taking chronic fatigue syndrome seriously. [Am J Psychiatry. 1992]
Taking chronic fatigue syndrome seriously. [Am J Psychiatry. 1992]
Taking chronic fatigue syndrome seriously. [Am J Psychiatry. 1992]
Taking chronic fatigue syndrome seriously. [Am J Psychiatry. 1992]
Taking chronic fatigue syndrome seriously. [Am J Psychiatry. 1992]
Source: Abbey SE, Garfinkel PE. Neurasthenia and chronic fatigue syndrome: the role of culture in the making of a diagnosis. Am J Psychiatry. 1991 Dec;148(12):1638-46. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1957925