Psychiatric illness in African students: "brain fag" syndrome revisited.

For 20 years, since Prince originally introduced it, the term "brain fag syndrome" has been used to describe a variety of symptoms frequently reported by students in Africa. In this paper the author questions the validity of the use of the term on the basis of clinical evidence afforded by his work and reports in the literature. It is concluded that brain fag syndrome is a misnomer and that more specific diagnostic terms such as anxiety neurosis and depressive neurosis should be used in its place.