Husband fatigue

last updated 8 January 2015

Tokyo

Thousands of elderly Japanese women have come down with a debilitating condition doctors are calling “retired husband syndrome,” The Washington Post reported this week. Symptoms range from depression to ulcers, rashes, and polyps—all induced by the stress of having to wait on a man who has nothing to do but bark orders all day long. Many men of Japan’s older generation still expect subservience from their wives, but the women have developed friends and interests outside the home. Given that fully one-fifth of Japanese people are over 65, the market for treatment of RHS is huge. Bookstores now offer numerous manuals on how to get husbands out of the house, and psychiatrists report a thriving RHS practice.