If you are a woman and experience chronic fatigue, either as a syndrome unto itself or in association with your fibromyalgia, you probably blame yourself for your condition, asking, “Is chronic fatigue my fault?” Maybe you think something is wrong with you psychologically that causes your extreme fatigue. Perhaps you consider yourself a perfectionist who sets absurdly high goals and standards for yourself. Trying to meet them brings about chronic and debilitating fatigue, right? Is that what you think about yourself? Well, stop because it is not correct! You may be surprised to find out that you were conditioned to think that way. In fact, just over 100 years ago, chronic fatigue was considered a male disorder and it was totally excused as a physical problem. Now? Now it’s considered primarily a psychological problem that effects women. Did we get more science-y and find an accurate diagnosis? Not by a long shot! Let’s explore why.

Is Chronic Fatigue My Fault?

A Breach of Character?

The Information Centre for Gender Research in Norway published a telling study that shows how chronic fatigue used to be considered a neurological side effect of the noble efforts of men. They didn’t have to ask themselves “Is chronic fatigue my fault?”Olaug S. Lian, a sociologist and professor at UiT The Arctic University of Norway explains, “Long-term fatigue was viewed as a legitimate disorder, a result of the heroic efforts of the upper class male. Today, it is a stigmatizing disorder, understood as an expression of women’s lack of ability to cope with their lives, a kind of breach of character.”

But wait…it’s gets worse! It turns out that not only has chronic fatigue changed gender, but it has also changed in cause. It’s true that researchers don’t know the exact cause. But in the past, they attributed this problem that men were having to a neurological disorder that came from societal pressures. Meaning, it was a physical problem. Now, however, even though the true cause is still unknown, the root of chronic fatigue is thought to be psychological in nature. But is society still to blame? Of course not. It’s the woman herself.

Class and Gender

Apparently, around the turn of the last century, industrialization and women entering the workplace put an abnormal toll on the working men of the time. And even though some women were also diagnosed with the disorder, they were not the typical patient. Neurologist George Beard explains that this very special kind of man was “civilized, refined, and educated, rather than of the barbarous and low-born and untrained.” In other words, men diagnosed with this neurological disorder were of the upper class. Neurologists thought that men were overstimulated by hustle and bustle that came with modern living.

So then, how did they explain chronic fatigue in women and working class men? “To simplify a bit, we can say that it was mainly middle class men and working class women whose diagnosis of neurasthenia was explained by overwork. For working class men it was due to sexual escapades, and for middle class women the cause given was heredity or ‘women’s issues’,” explains Lian [emphasis added]. That means that if you were an upper class male and had chronic fatigue, then it was unfortunate but noble for you to bear the physical burden of social pressures. If, however, you were a middle class male with chronic fatigue, it was your own fault for ‘sleeping around’ too much. And if you were a woman of any class with the same diagnosis, it was just one of those inexplicable things that comes from being a weak and fragile woman.

Enter the Field of Psychiatry

In the early 1900s, psychiatry was really gaining ground as a science in the field of medicine. And so, it took chronic fatigue and “….changed its definition from a physical to a psychological condition. Since women were regarded as psychologically weaker and therefore more disposed to mental illness, the disorder became a female problem,” says Lian.

Even though we now know that women are no more disposed to mental illness then men, chronic fatigue is still predominantly associated with women. But what’s the main theory today? It’s that women, especially the “good girls” who work hard and strive to be perfectionists, can’t handle stress and are particularly at risk.

Blame and Shame

“Today the medical community is searching for explanations of ME [chronic fatigue] at the individual level. The ME patient is depicted as a woman with five-star goals and four-star abilities — with character traits that make it hard for them to cope with their own lives,” says Lian. She adds, “When the entire problem is seen as the patient’s fault, the person experiences blame and shame because it is the patient, not society, who is the cause of the illness. It is therefore the individual who is responsible for coping with the illness, such as by changing her own thought patterns.”

Do you think this is an over-exaggeration? Are you a woman who has been to the doctor for chronic fatigue and/or related fibromyalgia? Have you asked yourself, “Is chronic fatigue my fault?” How many of you have been led to believe that it’s all in your head? And as for the men with chronic fatigue, are they getting overlooked for chronic fatigue syndrome similar to the way they are overlooked for fibromyalgia? Tell us your story!