Knowra Catatonia Catatonia Catatonia is a neuropsychiatric syndrome marked by changes in movement, speech, and responsiveness, including stupor, rigidity, mutism, or purposeless agitation. It can occur with psychiatric, neurological, and medical conditions.
Bush–Francis Catatonia Rating Scale : A clinical scale that screens for and rates the severity of catatonic signs. It turns observable signs such as mutism and posturing into a structured assessment.
Lorazepam challenge test : A clinical procedure in which lorazepam is given and symptom change is assessed to support a catatonia diagnosis. Rapid improvement can support the diagnosis, though it does not establish the underlying cause.
Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum : A German psychiatrist who described catatonia as a distinct clinical syndrome in the nineteenth century. His 1874 account established catatonia as a recognizable pattern of symptoms.
Parkinsonism : A group of movement abnormalities including slowness, rigidity, and sometimes tremor, often associated with Parkinson’s disease. Rigidity and reduced movement overlap with catatonia, but parkinsonism has a different clinical pattern.
Dehydration : A harmful deficit of body water that disrupts normal physiological function. Mutism, immobility, or refusal to eat and drink can lead to dehydration.
Excited catatonia : A catatonic presentation dominated by excessive, often purposeless motor activity and agitation. It shows that catatonia can involve extreme activity rather than only immobility.
Benzodiazepine : A class of drugs that enhance GABA signaling and are used for anxiety, seizures, and other conditions. Benzodiazepines, especially lorazepam, are commonly used as first-line treatment.
Emil Kraepelin : A German psychiatrist who shaped modern psychiatric classification through systematic descriptions of mental disorders. He incorporated catatonia into his account of dementia praecox, influencing its later association with schizophrenia.
Akinetic mutism : A state of profound loss of voluntary movement and speech despite wakefulness, usually associated with brain injury or disease. It resembles stuporous catatonia but is generally linked to specific neurological damage.
Rhabdomyolysis : The breakdown of skeletal muscle that releases cellular contents into the bloodstream and can damage the kidneys. Prolonged rigidity or extreme agitation can cause muscle injury in severe catatonia.
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