- Brain fag
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Brain fog "Brain fag is an example of a
culture-bound syndrome . Once a common term for mental exhaustion, it is now encountered almost exclusively in West Africa. Seen predominantly in male students, it generally manifests as vaguesomatic symptoms, depression, and difficulty concentrating. [Katona, C & Robertson, M. (2005, 3rd ed.) "Psychiatry at a Glance", Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-2404-0] It has similar symptoms to the Trinidadian illness "studiation madness".The term "brain fag" was used in the US as far back as 1852, describing an overworked brain, [Forbes Winslow, M.D, THE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE AND MENTAL PATHOLOGY, 1852,5(270)] in 1877 to describe mental exhaustion in professionals similar to
neurasthenia , [John Forsyth Meigs,"A History of the First Quarter of the Second Century of the Pennsylvania Hospital",1877] and later in 1919 to describe mental fatigue in the elderly. [Malford Wilcox Thewlis, "Geriatrics ; a treatise on senile conditions, diseases of advanced life, and care of the aged", 1919] The term 'fag' is believed to have been derived from 'fatigue'. This American usage declined by the 1950s. The modern African usage was first described in 1960, brain fag occurs most commonly in sub-Saharan Africa.A Nigerian study in 2002 found that proficiency in English may be a risk factor. [Morakinyo, O & Peltzer, K. "Psychopathology", 2002;35:362-366] In South Africa, another large study found that
socioeconomic status, female birth order, and depression were linked to the illness. A possibleaetiology may be the "cultural clash" between African and Western societies. [Durst, R, Minuchin-Itzigsohn S, & Jabotinsky-Rubin, K. "Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci." 1993;30(4):223-32] Brain fag is generally considered to be a depressive disorder, possibly linked withanxiety disorders. [Peltzer, K, Cherian, VI, & Cherian, L. "Psychol Rep." 1998 Dec;83(3 Pt 2):1187-96]References
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