Neurasthenia

The hand pronation phenomenon due to a pyramidal tract lesion is a sign commonly used for identifying a mild paresis, but the first descriptions of this maneuver seem to have been only partially investigated by the historians of neuroscience. Here we illustrate that this sign was most probably originally described by Adolf Strmpell (18531925) in 1901 and subsequently re-proposed by the illustrious French neurologist Joseph Babinski (18571932) in 1907, although with a slightly different focus of ap

The present work represents a detailed description of our current understanding and knowledge of the epidemiology, etiopathogenesis and clinical manifestations of mood disorders, their comorbidity and overlap, and the effect of variables such as gender and age. This review article is largely based on the 'Mood disorders' chapter of the Wikibooks Textbook of Psychiatry http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Textbook_of_Psychiatry/Mood_Disorders.|The present work represents a detailed description of our current under

(Medical Journal of Australia) Charles Darwins impressions of New Zealand and Australia, and insights into his illness and his developing ideas on evolution

We evaluated polysomnograms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients with and without fibromyalgia to determine whether patients in either group had elevated rates of sleep-disturbed breathing (obstructive sleep apnea or upper airway resistance syndrome) or periodic leg movement disorder. We also determined whether feelings of unrefreshing sleep were associated with differences in sleep architecture from normal.|We evaluated polysomnograms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients with and without fibro

24 It was first described in 1909 by Hasvonec to describe restless patients suffering from hysteria and neurasthenia and is derived from the Greek term meaning not to sit.

Disorders emphasizing symptoms of fatigue and/or weakness, collectively termed Neurasthenia Spectrum Disorders (NSDs), typically emphasize a biological basis in the West and social origins in East Asia. In India, explanatory concepts are diverse. To clarify, 352 outpatients in Psychiatry, Medicine, Dermatology, and Ayurved clinics of an urban hospital were interviewed with a version of the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue. Comparisons of categories and narratives of illness experience and meaning across clinics indicated both shared and distinctive features. Explanatory models of NSDs highlighted social distress, ''tensions,'' and both general and clinic-specific physical, psychological, and cultural ideas. Findings indicate the importance of social contexts and cultural meaning in explanatory models of neurasthenia, as well as the potential clinical relevance of the construct of Neurasthenia Spectrum Disorder.

To examine correlates of mental health treatment seeking such as gender, diagnosis, impairment, distress and mastery.|Longitudinal epidemiological data from the Zurich Study of common psychiatric syndromes, including unipolar and bipolar depression, panic, anxiety, neurasthenia and insomnia, were utilized. In longitudinal Generalized Estimating Equations, treatment seeking was regressed on measures of subjective distress and impairment, childhood family problems, mastery and number of comorbid diagnoses.|Approximately half of all treated participants across all six syndromes suffered from subthreshold disorders. Meeting full or subthreshold diagnostic criteria was associated with treatment seeking for insomnia. Being female was associated with treatment seeking for depression. The only variable highly and consistently associated with treatment seeking, across all syndromes, was subjective distress. Treated participants reported high levels of distress, work and social impairment in

The article first analyzes some of the social and historical components underlying the conditions ofpossibility that allowed neurasthenia to emerge as a nosological category in the latter half of the nineteenth century and then explores the elements that influenced its demise in medical and lay circles. It offers a brief introduction to this medical category and a more detailed discussion of some supporting debates, including the idea of nervous exhaustion, twentieth-century studies and concerns on fatigue, and the malady's presumed somatogenesis. The concluding analysis of how the category met its demise highlights elements that altered its status and its diagnostic usefulness.