‘Neurasthenia gastrica’ revisited: perceptions of nerve-gut interactions in nervous exhaustion, 1880–1920

• Main Author: Kristine Lillestøl
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-11-01
• Series: Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease
• Subjects: Neurasthenia; neurasthenia gastrica; nervous dyspepsia; functional gastrointestinal disorders; intestinal autointoxication; brain–gut axis
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16512235.2018.1553438

In this paper, some of the medical literature on the historical disease-concept of ‘neurasthenia gastrica’ is reviewed. Neurasthenia gastrica was defined as a sub-unit of the wider category of neurasthenia, also referred to as nervous exhaustion or nervous weakness. Neurasthenia was a commonly used diagnostic label at the end of the nineteenth century and a few decades onwards, and was used to describe a wide variety of symptoms for which no ‘organic’ basis could be found. In neurasthenia gastrica, however, the gastrointestinal symptoms predominated, and there was considerable debate as to how the gut interacted with the central nervous system in the development of these ailments. Some of these discussions may be seen as historical precedents for the current debates on the brain–gut–microbiota axis, particularly in relation to the so-called functional gastrointestinal disorders.