Beard, with his partner A.D. Rockwell, advocated first electrotherapy and then increasingly experimental treatments for people with neurasthenia, a position that was controversial. An 1868 review posited that Beard's and Rockwell's knowledge of the scientific method was suspect and did not believe their claims to be warranted.

William James was diagnosed with neurasthenia, and was quoted as saying, "I take it that no man is educated who has never dallied with the thought of suicide."

In 1895, Sigmund Freud reviewed electrotherapy and declared it a "pretense treatment." He emphasized the example of Elizabeth von R's note that "the stronger these were the more they seemed to push her own pains into the background."

Nevertheless, neurasthenia was a common diagnosis during World War I for "shell shock", but its use declined a decade later. Soldiers who deserted their post could be executed even if they had a medical excuse, but officers who had neurasthenia were not executed.

From 1869, neurasthenia became a "popular" diagnosis, expanding to include such symptoms as weakness, dizziness and fainting, and a common treatment was the rest cure, especially for women, who were the gender primarily diagnosed with this condition at that time. Recent analysis, however, of data from this period gleaned from the Annual Reports of Queen Square Hospital, London, indicates that the diagnosis was more evenly balanced between the sexes than is commonly thought. Virginia Woolf was known to have been forced to have rest cures, which she describes in her book "On Being Ill". Charlotte Perkins Gilman's protagonist in "The Yellow Wallpaper" also suffers under the auspices of rest cure doctors, much as Gilman herself did. Marcel Proust was said to suffer from neurasthenia. To capitalize on this epidemic, the Rexall drug company introduced a medication called 'Americanitis Elixir' which claimed to be a soother for any bouts related to Neurasthenia.

Patients with CFS benefit from a well-balanced diet and eating regularly (eating little and often), including slow-release starchy foods in meals and snacks. Although elimination diets are not generally recommended, many people experience relief of CFS symptoms with these diets, including gastrointestinal complaints. To avoid the risk of malnutrition, they should be supervised by a dietitian.

Pacing is an energy management strategy based on the observation that symptoms of the illness tend to increase following minimal exertion. There are two forms: symptom-contingent pacing, where the decision to stop (and rest or change an activity) is determined by an awareness of an exacerbation of symptoms; and time-contingent pacing, which is determined by a set schedule of activities which a patient estimates he or she is able to complete without triggering post-exertional malaise (PEM). Thus the principle behind pacing for CFS is to avoid over-exertion and an exacerbation of symptoms. It is not aimed at treating the illness as a whole. Those whose illness appears stable may gradually increase activity and exercise levels, but, according to the principle of pacing, must rest if it becomes clear that they have exceeded their limits.

The report of Da Costa shows that patients recovered from the more severe symptoms when removed from the strenuous activity or sustained lifestyle that caused them. A reclined position and forced bed rest was the most beneficial.

Other treatments evident from the previous studies were improving physique and posture, appropriate levels of exercise where possible, wearing loose clothing about the waist, and avoiding postural changes such as stooping, or lying on the left or right side, or the back in some cases, which relieved some of the palpitations and chest pains, and standing up slowly can prevent the faintness associated with postural or orthostatic hypotension in some cases.

Pharmacological intervention came in the form of digitalis, or "fox glove", which acts as a sodium-potassium ATPase inhibitor, increasing stroke volume and decreasing heart rate.

The anti-convulsant drugs gabapentin and pregabalin may be used to reduce pain. Gabapentin may be of significant benefit for pain relief in about 35% of people with fibromyalgia. It is not possible to predict who will benefit, and a short trial may be recommended to test the effectiveness of this type of medication. Approximately 6/10 people who take gabapentin to treat pain related to fibromyalgia experience unpleasant side effects such as dizziness, abnormal walking, or swelling from fluid accumulation. Pregabalin demonstrates a substantial benefit in about 9% of people. Pregabalin reduced time off work by 0.2 days per week.

Antidepressants are "associated with improvements in pain, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and health-related quality of life in people with FMS." The goal of antidepressants should be symptom reduction and if used long term, their effects should be evaluated against side effects. A small number of people benefit significantly from the SNRIs duloxetine and milnacipran and the tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), such as amitriptyline. However, many people experience more adverse effects than benefits. While amitriptyline has been used as a first line treatment, the quality of evidence to support this use is poor.

It can take up to three months to derive benefit from the antidepressant amitriptyline and between three and six months to gain the maximal response from duloxetine, milnacipran, and pregabalin. Some medications have the potential to cause withdrawal symptoms when stopping so gradual discontinuation may be warranted particularly for antidepressants and pregabalin.

There is tentative evidence that the benefits and harms of SSRIs appear to be about similar.

A major option for many mental disorders is psychiatric medication and there are several main groups. Antidepressants are used for the treatment of clinical depression, as well as often for anxiety and a range of other disorders. Anxiolytics (including sedatives) are used for anxiety disorders and related problems such as insomnia. Mood stabilizers are used primarily in bipolar disorder. Antipsychotics are used for psychotic disorders, notably for positive symptoms in schizophrenia, and also increasingly for a range of other disorders. Stimulants are commonly used, notably for ADHD.

Despite the different conventional names of the drug groups, there may be considerable overlap in the disorders for which they are actually indicated, and there may also be off-label use of medications. There can be problems with adverse effects of medication and adherence to them, and there is also criticism of pharmaceutical marketing and professional conflicts of interest.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is sometimes used in severe cases when other interventions for severe intractable depression have failed. Psychosurgery is considered experimental but is advocated by some neurologists in certain rare cases.

Counseling (professional) and co-counseling (between peers) may be used. Psychoeducation programs may provide people with the information to understand and manage their problems. Creative therapies are sometimes used, including music therapy, art therapy or drama therapy. Lifestyle adjustments and supportive measures are often used, including peer support, self-help groups for mental health and supported housing or supported employment (including social firms). Some advocate dietary supplements.

Reasonable accommodations (adjustments and supports) might be put in place to help an individual cope and succeed in environments despite potential disability related to mental health problems. This could include an emotional support animal or specifically trained psychiatric service dog.

Within the qigong community, there are specific treatments believed to be effective for addressing different forms of Zou huo ru mo. In particular, depending upon somatic versus psychological symptoms, and whether the condition is considered temporary or an intrinsic mental disorder, self-correction treatments can involve relaxation, walking, self-vibrating, self-patting, and self-massage; whereas clinical treatments can involve psychological counseling, expert guidance of practice, acupuncture, massage, "external qi" treatments, and symptomatic correction

Shell shock is a phrase coined in World War I to describe the type of posttraumatic stress disorder many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD itself was a term).

It is reaction to the intensity of the bombardment and fighting that produced a helplessness appearing variously as panic and being scared, or flight, an inability to reason, sleep, walk or talk.

During the War, the concept of shell shock was ill-defined. Cases of 'shell shock' could be interpreted as either a physical or psychological injury, or simply as a lack of moral fibre. The term "shell shock" is still used by the Veterans Administration to describe certain parts of PTSD but mostly it has entered into popular imagination and memory, and is often identified as the signature injury of the War.

In World War II and thereafter, diagnosis of 'shell shock' was replaced by that of combat stress reaction, a similar but not identical response to the trauma of warfare and bombardment.

The management of low back pain often includes medications for the duration that they are beneficial. With the first episode of low back pain the hope is a complete cure; however, if the problem becomes chronic, the goals may change to pain management and the recovery of as much function as possible. As pain medications are only somewhat effective, expectations regarding their benefit may differ from reality, and this can lead to decreased satisfaction.

The medication typically recommended first are NSAIDs (though not aspirin) or skeletal muscle relaxants and these are enough for most people. Benefits with NSAIDs; however, is often small. High-quality reviews have found acetaminophen (paracetamol) to be no more effective than placebo at improving pain, quality of life, or function. NSAIDs are more effective for acute episodes than acetaminophen; however, they carry a greater risk of side effects including: kidney failure, stomach ulcers and possibly heart problems. Thus, NSAIDs are a second choice to acetaminophen, recommended only when the pain is not handled by the latter. NSAIDs are available in several different classes; there is no evidence to support the use of COX-2 inhibitors over any other class of NSAIDs with respect to benefits. With respect to safety naproxen may be best. Muscle relaxants may be beneficial.

If the pain is still not managed adequately, short term use of opioids such as morphine may be useful. These medications carry a risk of addiction, may have negative interactions with other drugs, and have a greater risk of side effects, including dizziness, nausea, and constipation. The effect of long term use is unknown. Specialist groups advise against general long-term use of opioids for chronic low back pain.

For older people with chronic pain, opioids may be used in those for whom NSAIDs present too great a risk, including those with diabetes, stomach or heart problems. They may also be useful for a select group of people with neuropathic pain.

Antidepressants may be effective for treating chronic pain associated with symptoms of depression, but they have a risk of side effects. Although the antiseizure drugs gabapentin and carbamazepine are sometimes used for chronic low back pain and may relieve sciatic pain, there is insufficient evidence to support their use. Systemic oral steroids have not been shown to be useful in low back pain. Facet joint injections and steroid injections into the discs have not been found to be effective in those with persistent, non-radiating pain; however, they may be considered for those with persistent sciatic pain. Epidural corticosteroid injections provide a slight and questionable short-term improvement in those with sciatica but are of no long term benefit. There are also concerns of potential side effects.

During the early stages of World War I, soldiers from the British Expeditionary Force began to report medical symptoms after combat, including tinnitus, amnesia, headaches, dizziness, tremors, and hypersensitivity to noise. While these symptoms resembled those that would be expected after a physical wound to the brain, many of those reporting sick showed no signs of head wounds. By December 1914 as many as 10% of British officers and 4% of enlisted men were suffering from "nervous and mental shock".

The term "shell shock" came into use to reflect an assumed link between the symptoms and the effects of explosions from artillery shells. The term was first published in 1915 in an article in "The Lancet" by Charles Myers. Some 60–80% of shell shock cases displayed acute neurasthenia, while 10% displayed what would now be termed symptoms of conversion disorder, including mutism and fugue.

The number of shell shock cases grew during 1915 and 1916 but it remained poorly understood medically and psychologically. Some doctors held the view that it was a result of hidden physical damage to the brain, with the shock waves from bursting shells creating a cerebral lesion that caused the symptoms and could potentially prove fatal. Another explanation was that shell shock resulted from poisoning by the carbon monoxide formed by explosions.

At the same time an alternative view developed describing shell shock as an emotional, rather than a physical, injury. Evidence for this point of view was provided by the fact that an increasing proportion of men suffering shell shock symptoms had not been exposed to artillery fire. Since the symptoms appeared in men who had no proximity to an exploding shell, the physical explanation was clearly unsatisfactory.

In spite of this evidence, the British Army continued to try to differentiate those whose symptoms followed explosive exposure from others. In 1915 the British Army in France was instructed that:

However, it often proved difficult to identify which cases were which, as the information on whether a casualty had been close to a shell explosion or not was rarely provided.

It is unclear if among those with non-chronic back pain alternative treatments are useful. For chiropractic care or spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) it is unclear if it improves outcomes more or less than other treatments. Some reviews find that SMT results in equal or better improvements in pain and function when compared with other commonly used interventions for short, intermediate, and long-term follow-up; other reviews find it to be no more effective in reducing pain than either inert interventions, sham manipulation, or other treatments, and conclude that adding SMT to other treatments does improve outcomes. National guidelines reach different conclusions, with some not recommending spinal manipulation, some describing manipulation as optional, and others recommending a short course for those who do not improve with other treatments. A 2017 review recommended spinal manipulation based on low quality evidence. Manipulation under anaesthesia, or medically assisted manipulation, has not enough evidence to make any confident recommendation.

Acupuncture is no better than placebo, usual care, or sham acupuncture for nonspecific acute pain or sub-chronic pain. For those with chronic pain, it improves pain a little more than no treatment and about the same as medications, but it does not help with disability. This pain benefit is only present right after treatment and not at follow-up. Acupuncture may be a reasonable method to try for those with chronic pain that does not respond to other treatments like conservative care and medications.

Massage therapy does not appear to provide much benefit for acute low back pain. A 2015 Cochrane review found that for acute low back pain massage therapy was better than no treatment for pain only in the short-term. There was no effect for improving function. For chronic low back pain massage therapy was no better than no treatment for both pain and function, though only in the short-term. The overall quality of the evidence was low and the authors conclude that massage therapy is generally not an effective treatment for low back pain.

Prolotherapy – the practice of injecting solutions into joints (or other areas) to cause inflammation and thereby stimulate the body's healing response – has not been found to be effective by itself, although it may be helpful when added to another therapy.

Herbal medicines, as a whole, are poorly supported by evidence. The herbal treatments Devil's claw and white willow may reduce the number of individuals reporting high levels of pain; however, for those taking pain relievers, this difference is not significant. Capsicum, in the form of either a gel or a plaster cast, has been found to reduce pain and increase function.

Behavioral therapy may be useful for chronic pain. There are several types available, including operant conditioning, which uses reinforcement to reduce undesirable behaviors and increase desirable behaviors; cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps people identify and correct negative thinking and behavior; and respondent conditioning, which can modify an individual's physiological response to pain. Medical providers may develop an integrated program of behavioral therapies. The evidence is inconclusive as to whether mindfulness-based stress reduction reduces chronic back pain intensity or associated disability, although it suggests that it may be useful in improving the acceptance of existing pain.

Tentative evidence supports neuroreflexotherapy (NRT), in which small pieces of metal are placed just under the skin of the ear and back, for non-specific low back pain.

The Chinese word "zǒuhuǒrùmó" "①be obsessed with sth. ②possessed by the Devil" combines "zǒuhuǒ(r)" "①〈elec.〉 ⓐspark ⓑhave a short circuit ②〈coll.〉 discharge (a firearm) accidentally ③overstate ④catch fire; be on fire" and "rùmó" "①be spellbound ②be infatuated/obsessed". In recent times this syndrome has been known as "qìgōngpiānchā" 氣功偏差 "qigong deviation/error". The term has traditionally been applied to indicate that something has gone wrong in one's martial arts training, interpreted as "imbalance of qi (life energy)". In more recent history, the term has been applied to refer to undesirable somatic or psychological effects experienced during or after the practice of the broad range of Chinese self-cultivation exercises known as qigong. Most cases do not last for an extended period of time, and are never brought to medical attention. While qigong may act as a stressor in vulnerable individuals, relations between qigong and disorders are manifold, and causal relationships have not been demonstrated. Similar syndromes have been observed in other forms of self-cultivation practices such as yoga (Kundalini syndrome), meditation, and hypnosis.

The World Health Organization classifies this condition as a somatoform autonomic dysfunction (a type of psychosomatic disorder) in their ICD-10 coding system. In their ICD-9 system, it was classified under non-psychotic mental disorders. The syndrome is also frequently interpreted as one of a number of imprecisely characterized "postwar syndromes".

There are many names for the syndrome, which has variously been called cardiac neurosis, chronic asthenia, effort syndrome, functional cardiovascular disease, neurocirculatory asthenia, primary neurasthenia, and subacute asthenia. Da Costa himself called it "irritable heart" and the term "soldier's heart" was in common use both before and after his paper. Most authors use these terms interchangeably, but some authors draw a distinction between the different manifestations of this condition, preferring to use different labels to highlight the predominance of psychiatric or non-psychiatric complaints. For example, Oglesby Paul writes that "Not all patients with neurocirculatory asthenia have a cardiac neurosis, and not all patients with cardiac neurosis have neurocirculatory asthenia." None of these terms have widespread use.

Anthropophobia or Anthrophobia (literally "fear of humans", from , "ánthropos", "human" and , "phóbos", "fear"), also called interpersonal relation phobia or social phobia, is pathological fear of people or human company.

Anthropophobia is an extreme, pathological form of shyness and timidity. Being a form of social phobia, it may manifest as fears of blushing or meeting others' gaze, awkwardness and uneasiness when appearing in society, etc. A specific Japanese cultural form is known as taijin kyofusho.

Anthropophobia can be best defined as the fear of people in crowded situations, but can also go beyond and leave the person uncomfortable when being around just one person. Conditions vary depending on the person. Some cases are mild and can be handled while more serious cases can lead to complete social withdrawal and the exclusive use of written and electronic communication.

In 2009, a study investigated the impact of anthropophobia in specific cultures. 50 patients diagnosed with anthropophobia, 50 patients diagnosed with neurasthenia, and 50 control subjects were recruited from hospitals in Beijing, China. Measures of anthropophobic and anxiety symptoms were administered to the subjects. The patients with anthropophobia could not even make eye contact with others and were afraid of being watched. The conclusion drawn was that anthropophobics, like neurasthenics, experience anxiety and depression, but "more cognitively and less somatically".

Wilson's (temperature) syndrome, also called Wilson's thyroid syndrome or WTS, is an alternative medicine concept which is not recognized as a medical condition by evidence-based medicine. Its supporters describe Wilson's syndrome as a mix of various common and non-specific symptoms which they attribute to low body temperature and impaired conversion of thyroxine (T4) to triiodothyronine (T3), despite normal thyroid function tests. E. Denis Wilson, a physician who named the syndrome after himself, advocates treating these symptoms with sustained-release triiodothyronine.

The American Thyroid Association (ATA) describes Wilson's syndrome as at odds with established knowledge of thyroid function. The ATA described the diagnostic criteria for Wilson's syndrome as imprecise and non-specific, and found a lack of any scientific evidence supporting Wilson's claims. The ATA further raised concern that the proposed treatments were potentially harmful. Florida State Medical Board members described Wilson's syndrome as a "phony syndrome" and a scam during disciplinary action against Wilson.

The term "Wilson’s syndrome" was coined in 1990 by E. Denis Wilson, a physician practicing in Longwood, Florida. Wilson said that the syndrome's manifestations included fatigue, headaches, PMS, hair loss, irritability, fluid retention, depression, decreased memory, low sex drive, unhealthy nails, easy weight gain, and about 60 other symptoms. Wilson wrote that the syndrome can manifest itself as "virtually every symptom known to man." He also says that it is "the most common of all chronic ailments and probably takes a greater toll on society than any other medical condition."

Wilson says that low thyroid symptoms and low temperatures in the presence of normal thyroid function tests are not due to hypothyroidism, and might be reversed with a few months of treatment. To distinguish this condition from hypothyroidism, he named it Wilson's (temperature) syndrome. He states that it is "especially brought on by stress" and can persist after the stress has passed. He says that the main diagnostic sign is a body temperature that averages below (oral), and that the diagnosis is confirmed if the patient responds to treatment with a "special thyroid hormone treatment". He says that certain herbs can also help support normal body temperatures.

Jumping Frenchmen of Maine syndrome must be distinguished from other conditions involving the startle reflex or tics.

Tourette syndrome is characterized by multiple physical (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. There are many overlaps when compared clinically, but the abnormal "jumping" response is always provoked, unlike the involuntary tics in Tourette syndrome.

Latah from Southeast Asia is a disorder where one's startle response is similar to a state of trance with repetitive speech or movements. Miryachit is a disorder found in Siberia that also displays an action similar to "jumping". Neurasthenia is a disorder with a startle response during periods of great fatigue.

Hyperekplexia is an extremely rare autosomal dominant neurological disease. The symptoms start in infancy with hypertonia, an abnormal muscle tension that decreases flexibility, and an exaggerated startle in all ages of life.

The Jumping Frenchmen of Maine were a group of 19th-century lumberjacks who exhibited a rare disorder of unknown origin. The syndrome entails an exaggerated startle reflex which may be described as an uncontrollable "jump"; individuals with this condition can exhibit sudden movements in all parts of the body. Jumping Frenchmen syndrome shares some symptoms with other startle disorders.

Individuals with this condition were first found in the Moosehead Lake region of Maine, and were first described by George Miller Beard in 1878.