Arctic Neurasthenia--The Case of Greenlandic Kayak Fear 1864-1940

• Published in: Social History of Medicine
• Main Authors: Christensen, Ivan Lind, Rud, Søren
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2013
• Subjects: Original Articles; Arctic; Kayak; greenlandic
• Online Access: http://shm.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/26/3/489; https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkt008

This article investigates the somewhat under-studied Greenlandic kayak fear; a diagnosis that appeared in 1864 and declined as a subject of urgency after about 1940. It follows the aetiology of the diagnosis as it changes from a lifestyle-related phenomenon to a localised colonial version of neurasthenia: arctic neurasthenia. Previous studies have focused on the diagnosis tropical neurasthenia, a condition known to have affected white colonisers exposed to tropical environments. However, there have been almost no reports of cases in which the diagnosis of neurasthenia was used to describe conditions among a colonised population. The analysis in this article testifies to the remarkable flexibility of the diagnosis and adds yet another layer to the history of neurasthenia. Following recent trends in the history of medicine we highlight the socio-historical, medical and cultural framing of the process from the unstudied condition to diagnosis.