Introduction

This interdisciplinary book explores the connections and tensions between sociological, psychological, and biological theories of exhaustion. It examines how the prevalence of exhaustion – both as an individual experience and as a broader socio-cultural phenomenon – is manifest in the epidemic rise of burnout, depression, and chronic fatigue. It provides innovative analyses of the complex interplay between the processes involved in the production of mental health diagnoses, socio-cultural transformations, and subjective illness experiences. Using many of the existing ideologically charged exhaustion theories as case studies, the authors investigate how individual discomfort and wider social dynamics are interrelated. Covering a vast breadth of topics, this book will appeal to scholars of psychology, sociology, medicine, psychiatry, literature, and history.

Keywords

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome M.E. Neoliberalism Sociology Biology Literature History Mental health Depression Burnout Fatigue Anthropology Self Medication