[1] The term is no longer in psychiatric diagnostic use[a], although it still forms one of the ten clinical subscales of the popular self-report personality inventories MMPI and MMPI-2.
The MMPI subscale 7 describes psychasthenia as akin to obsessive-compulsive disorder, and as characterised by excessive doubts, compulsions, obsessions, and unreasonable fears.
[5] The German-Swiss psychiatrist Karl Jaspers, following Janet, described psychasthenia as a variety of phenomena "held together by the theoretical concept of a 'diminution of psychic energy'."
The psychasthenic person prefers to "withdraw from his fellows and not be exposed to situations in which his abnormally strong 'complexes' rob him of presence of mind, memory and poise."
"The psyche generally lacks an ability to integrate its life or to work through and manage its various experiences; it fails to build up its personality and make any steady development."