Neurasthenia and chronic fatigue syndrome - an overview of the empirical literature

The symptomatology of neurasthenia, in ICD-10 categorised as neurotic, diso rder, is very closely related to the somatoform disorders. In recent time, the diagnostic label neurasthenia was replaced by the research criteria of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Fatigue and fatigue related symptoms are ve ry common complaints in the population. We give an overview of the internat ional empiric literature on neurasthenia and CFS between 1980 and 1997. Whi le there is a considerable body of literature about diagnostic criteria, ep idemiology and course of these disorders, empirical literature about the ev idence of therapeutic intervention, especially of psychodynamic psychothera py is very rare. Empirically proven management guidelines are reported.