Neurasthenia Revisited: On Medically Unexplained Syndromes and the Value of Hermeneutic Medicine

Authors

  • Kevin Aho Florida Gulf Coast University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11575/jah.v0i0.53334

Keywords:

neurasthenia, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, somatization, naturalism, hermeneutics

Abstract

 

The rise of medically unexplained conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome in the United States looks remarkably similar to the explosion of neurasthenia diagnoses in the late nineteenth century. In this paper, I argue the historical connection between neurasthenia and today’s medically unexplained conditions hinges largely on the uncritical acceptance of naturalism in medicine. I show how this cultural acceptance shapes the way in which we interpret and make sense of nervous distress while, at the same time, neglecting the unique social and historical forces that continue to produce it. I draw on the methods of hermeneutic philosophy to expose the limits of naturalism and forward an account of health and illness that acknowledges the extent to which we are always embedded in contexts of meaning that determine how we experience and understand our suffering.

 

 

Author Biography

Kevin Aho, Florida Gulf Coast University

Kevin Aho, PhD
Professor and Chair
Dept. of Communication and Philosophy
Florida Gulf Coast University
33965

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Published

2018-04-09

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