Scientific research regarding Catatonia is limited to individual clinical cases. Few well-design studies investigating its clinical course or therapeutic options have been carried out. We aimed to describe a sample of consecutive Catatonic patients admitted to the Basurto's Hospital Adult Psychiatric Inpatient Unit to obtain more data about its clinical presentation.

Subjects diagnosed of Catatonia anytime during admission were included (n = 12). Subject's admission dates ranged between December 2008 to September 2010. Catatonia was diagnosed following DSM-IV-TR criteria. Data was retrospectively obtained reviewing subject's clinical notes.

The sample was predominantly composed of women (66.7%). Media of age was 55.3 years. All subjects reported previous mental illness. More prevalent diagnosis were Schizophrenia (33.2%), Bipolar Disorder (33.2%), Non Specified Psychotic Disorder (16.6%), Schizoaffective Disorder (8.3%) and Recurrent Depressive Disorder (8.3%). Nine subjects (75%) reported previous admission to a psychiatric unit. No subjects had previously suffered from Catatonia and only 2 had previously received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). More frequent catatonia subtype was retarded (66.7%) with no subjects presenting with malignant catatonia. CGI at admission showed a media of 6.64.

Regarding treatment, 83.3% did not recover with benzodiazepines and needed ECT anytime during admission. Media admission length was 36.17 days.

Catatonia was more frequently observed in female, middle-aged women with no previous history of catatonia or ECT treatment but a history of previous psychotic or affective illness and hospital admissions. Symptom severity was very high and thus required aggressive treatment and longer hospital stays in order to achieve recovery.