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  • Title: Neurasthenia and chronic fatigue syndrome: the role of culture in the making of a diagnosis.
    Author: Abbey SE, Garfinkel PE.
    Journal: Am J Psychiatry; 1991 Dec; 148(12):1638-46. PubMed ID: 1957925.
    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 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.
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