neurasthenia
Victorian fatigue diagnosis
Neurasthenia is an old diagnosis for a condition of exhaustion, weakness, and nervous irritability, attributed to depleted nervous energy.
Popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was applied to patients reporting fatigue, anxiety, headaches, and inability to concentrate.
The diagnosis has fallen out of medical use, replaced by more specific terms like chronic fatigue syndrome or anxiety disorders.
The Victorian physician diagnosed her neurasthenia and prescribed a rest cure.
State of utter depletion
- lethargyAbnormal drowsiness and apathy
- weaknessDeficiency in force
- tirednessState of needing rest
- wearinessState of being drained
debility · enervation · prostration · languor · listlessness · malaise · asthenia · sluggishness
Toil to exhaustion
- stressPressure, mental or vocal
- overwhelmDefeat by excess
- demoralizationLoss of confidence and hope
- breakdownFailure or decomposition
nervous breakdown · depletion · workaholism · overstrain · collapse · cynicism · emotional exhaustion · shell shock
Uncontrollable emotional excess
- hypochondriaExcessive illness worry
- melancholiaProfound, enduring sorrow
- psychosomaticMind-induced bodily illness
- somatizationMental distress expressed physically
functional disorder · nervous disorder · conversion disorder · dysthymia · depersonalization · obsessions · compulsions · invalidism
Of a prim era
- Gilded AgeLate 1800s American prosperity
- BeardAmerican culinary surname
- rest cureTreatment through prolonged repose
- sanatoriumFacility for prolonged recovery
patent medicine · nerve tonic · spa treatment · water cure · electrotherapy · invalidism · nineteenth-century · modernity
State of anxious unease
- worryTroubled mental state
- tensionStretched or strained state
- apprehensionNervous anticipation of trouble
- uneaseMild persistent worry
restlessness · agitation · irritability · hypervigilance · edginess · disquiet · jitters · overwrought
exhaustion
State of utter depletion
weariness · debility · enervation · prostration · languor · listlessness · malaise · asthenia · sluggishness · drowsiness
overwork
Toil to exhaustion
- stressPressure, mental or vocal
- overwhelmDefeat by excess
- demoralizationLoss of confidence and hope
breakdown · nervous breakdown · depletion · workaholism · overstrain · collapse · cynicism · emotional exhaustion · shell shock
hysteria
Uncontrollable emotional excess
- hypochondriaExcessive illness worry
- melancholiaProfound, enduring sorrow
- psychosomaticMind-induced bodily illness
somatization · functional disorder · nervous disorder · conversion disorder · dysthymia · depersonalization · obsessions · compulsions · invalidism · vapors
Victorian
Of a prim era
- Gilded AgeLate 1800s American prosperity
- BeardAmerican culinary surname
- rest cureTreatment through prolonged repose
sanatorium · patent medicine · nerve tonic · spa treatment · water cure · electrotherapy · invalidism · nineteenth-century · modernity · genteel
nervousness
State of anxious unease
- worryTroubled mental state
- tensionStretched or strained state
- apprehensionNervous anticipation of trouble
unease · restlessness · agitation · irritability · hypervigilance · edginess · disquiet · jitters · overwrought · hypersensitivity
- Psychology HistoryFreud, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Jung, William James
- medical historyHippocrates, germ theory, bloodletting, Galen, four humors
- Old Ailmentsconsumption, dropsy, ague, apoplexy, phthisis
- old medicinebloodletting, leeches, leech therapy, leeching, cupping
- Old-Fashioned Medicineague, apoplexy, consumption, dropsy, grippe
- war ailmentstrench foot, trench fever, shell shock, combat fatigue, battle fatigue
neurastheniapsychological resilience
Capacity to recover from hardship
equanimity · emotional resilience · composure · calm · calmness
neurastheniasoundness
Reliability of structure
robust health · wellness · good health · fitness · healthfulness
neurotic, anesthetic, neurosis, neural, neuron, anesthesia, neurology, neurological, neurons