American Nervousness, 1903: An Anecdotal History

This book was a big surprise to me. I did not know that in the late 1800s through the 1920s, the prevaling medical analysis of mental disorder was called neurasthenia. The (pre-)psychological world of the time believed that mental health derived from a balance of nervous energy in the body. Too much? Excitement, hysteria, insanity. Too little? Lethargy, melancholia, death. This non-empirical "science" was White, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant Gentry Male-centric. And the "American" variant of the disease was the worst because of our modern conveniences like trains and telegraphs. 1903 may stand as the epicenter of this medical marvel. Tom Lutz uses examples of 1903 events grouped as anecdotes about public figures like Teddy Roosevelt and Theodore Dressier. This device effectively demonstrates the ubiquity of neurasthenia in people's perceptions of private and public events. A woman might be prescribed a month in bed drinking milk to combat an excess of nervous energy (ambition?), while her husband might go ride horses out West to lift him out of a professional rut. Sounds fair, right?The polital conservative movement has roots in the period. "Conservatism" attempted to reuse excess nervous energy by spending excess business income on business expansion. This justified low wages in an early trickle-down mentality.One caveat - Tom Lutz's writing is incisive and revealing but it's also erudite and scholastic at times. He carefully illuminates the influence of the most important social/medical theory of the time - keep your thinking hat on.