noun
- A psychological condition characterized by mental weakness, fatigue, anxiety, and obsessive thoughts; a form of neurosis (archaic medical term).
Usage: archaic; medical/psychological; largely obsolete in modern clinical practice
Examples
- Early 20th-century psychiatrists often diagnosed psychasthenics in patients presenting with chronic fatigue and worry.
- The condition known as psychasthenics was thought to result from mental exhaustion and stress.
- Modern psychology has largely abandoned the term psychasthenics in favor of more specific diagnostic categories.
- Patients with psychasthenics reported difficulty concentrating and persistent feelings of weakness.