Abstract
Neurasthenia was once a diagnosis ubiquitous enough to be household vernacular, but by the 1930s, as physicians became interested in more precise, narrower diagnoses, fewer patients were diagnosed as having this condition. The widespread use of the diagnosis had diluted its utility. In 2019, member states of the World Health Organization accepted the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Eleventh Revision, which retired neurasthenia, and replaced this term with bodily distress disorder. Today, it is possible that the term burnout may be approaching, and perhaps should have, the same fate. The use of burnout to describe current occupationally related issues (such as stress, frustration, dissatisfaction, and depression) affecting physicians and other health practitioners has become widespread. Challenges with accurately identifying and measuring a subjectively assessed constellation of symptoms are interfering with efforts to quantify and address widespread clinician distress. Shifting the language of distress to incorporate etiology could potentially allow better assessment and more targeted solutions to the crisis.
