| Malaise | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Discomfort, uneasiness |
| Pronunciation | |
| Specialty | Family medicine,Internal medicine,Pediatrics,Geriatrics,Psychiatry,Clinical psychology |
| Symptoms | Feeling of uneasiness or discomfort |
| Diagnostic method | Based on symptoms |
| Differential diagnosis | Pain,anxiety,depression |
Inmedicine,malaise is a feeling of generaldiscomfort, uneasiness or lack of wellbeing and often the first sign of aninfection or other disease.[1] It is considered a vague term – describing the state of simply not feeling well. The word has existed inFrench since at least the 12th century.
The term is often usedfiguratively in other contexts, in addition to its meaning as a general state ofangst ormelancholia.
Malaise is anon-specific symptom and can be present in the slightest ailment, such as anemotion (causing fainting, avasovagal response) or hunger (lighthypoglycemia[2]), to the most serious conditions (cancer,stroke,heart attack,internal bleeding, etc.).
Malaise expresses a patient's uneasiness that "something is not right" that may need a medical examination to determine the significance.
Malaise is thought to be caused by the activation of an immune response, and the associated pro-inflammatorycytokines.[3]
"Economic malaise" refers to an economy that is stagnant or inrecession (comparedepression). The term is particularly associated with the1973–75 United States recession.[4] An era of American automotive history, centered around the 1970s, is similarly called the "malaise era."
The "Crisis of Confidence" speech made by US PresidentJimmy Carter in 1979 is commonly referred to as the "malaise speech", although the word itself was not actually in the speech.[5]
