Freud's interventions into the question of nervousness: the anxiety neurosis as George Beard's critique of the neurasthenic paradigm of modernity

This article examines Freud's critique of the category of neurasthenia as proposed by George Beard. First, it presents Beard's hypotheses that associate nervousness, modern civilization and neurasthenia. It then identifies Freud's concept of nervousness as applied to the category of anxiety neurosis. In refuting Beard's postulates, Freud not only made a contribution to psychopathology of his time, but also presented a new basis for modern nervousness.

Neurasthenia; anxiety neurosis; nervousness; civilization