Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:39:23.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Catatonia: the Tension Insanity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John Johnson
John Johnson*
Affiliation:
University Hospital of South Manchester
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A historical review of Kahlbaum's Catatonia is presented. He attributed the condition to organic cerebral disease. It is now best considered as a neuropsychiatric syndrome due to a wide variety of organic disease processes, manifest in catelepsy in a setting of an abnormal mental state, most commonly an affective disorder. Chronic catatonic states were common sequelae of encephalitis lethargica; this disease has now disappeared in epidemic form with a resulting fall in the incidence of catatonia in psychiatric hospitals. Acute catatonia, due to medical and particularly pharmacogenic causes, continues to occur in current psychiatric practice.

Type
Lecture
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 162 , Issue 6 , June 1993 , pp. 733 - 738
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ajuriaguerra, J. (1975) The concept of akinesia. Psychological Medicine, 5, 129–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM-III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Barnes, M. P., Saunders, M., Walls, T. J., et al (1986) The syndrome of Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 49, 991–996.Google Scholar
Barton, R. (1959) Institutional Neurosis. Bristol: Wright.Google Scholar
Bleuler, E. (1950) Dementia Praecox. New York: International University Press.Google Scholar
Bonhoeffer, K. (1911) How far should all psychogenic illnesses be regarded as hysterical? In Themes and Variations in European Psychiatry (1974) (eds Hirsch, S. R. & Shepherd, M.). Bristol: John Wright & Sons.Google Scholar
Cairns, H., Oldfield, R. C., Pennybacker, J. B., et al (1941) Akinetic mutism with an epidermoid cyst of the third ventricle. Brain, 64, 273–290.Google Scholar
Cooper, A. F. & Schapira, K. (1973) Case report: depression, stupor and EEG changes in hyperparathyroidism. Psychological Medicine, 3, 509–515.Google Scholar
Cravioto, H., Silberman, J. & Feigin, I. (1960) A clinical and pathologic study of akinetic mutism. Neurology, 10, 10–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dalle Ore, G. (1977) The Appalic Syndrome. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Davison, C. K. & Bagley, C. R. (1969) Schizophrenia-like psychoses associated with organic diseases of the central nervous system. In Current Problems in Neuropsychiatry, pp. 113–184. Ashford, Kent: Headley Brothers.Google Scholar
De Jong, H. H. (1945) Experimental Catatonia. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.Google Scholar
Denny-Brown, D. (1962) The midbrain and motor integration. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 55, 527–538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diethelm, O. (1971) Catalepsy and ecstasy. In Medical Dissertations of Psychiatric Interest (ed. Diethelm, O.). Basle: Karger.Google Scholar
Doherty, M., Garstin, I., McClelland, R. J., et al (1991) A steroid stupor in a surgical ward. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 125–127.Google Scholar
Eagles, J. M. (1991) Is schizophrenia disappearing? British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 834–835.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fink, M. & Taylor, M. A. (1991) Catatonia; a separate category in DSM-IV? Integrative Psychiatry, 7, 2–10.Google Scholar
Gelenberg, A. J. (1976) The catatonic syndrome. Lancet, i, 1339–1341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelenberg, A. J. (1977) Catatonic reaction to high-potency neuroleptic drugs. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 947–950.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gjessing, L., Harding, G. F. A. & Jenner, F. A. (1967) The EEG in three cases of periodic catatonia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 1271–1282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenfield, J. G. (1927) The pathology of epidemic encephalitis. British Medical Journal, ii, 535–537.Google Scholar
Hill, D. (1957) Electroencephalogram in schizophrenia. In Schizophrenia: Somatic Aspects. London: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Hoch, A. (1921) Benign Stupors. Cambridge: Macmillan Press.Google Scholar
Howard, R. S. & Lees, A. J. (1987) Encephalitis lethargica: a report of four recent cases. Brain, 110, 19–33.Google Scholar
Hunter, R. (1973) Psychiatry and neurology. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 66, 359–364.Google Scholar
Ingram, W. R., Barris, R. W. & Ranson, S. W. (1935) Catalepsy. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 35, 1175–1197.Google Scholar
Jackson, W. S. (1986) Melancholia and Depression: From Hippocratic Times to Modem Times. Newhaven and London: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, J. (1984) Stupor; a review of 25 cases. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 70, 370–377.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. & Lucey, P. A. (1987) Encephalitis lethargica: a contemporary cause of catatonic stupor. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 550–552.Google Scholar
Joseph, A. B., Anderson, W. H. & O'Leary, D. H. (1985) Brain stem and vermis atrophy in catatonia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 352–354.Google ScholarPubMed
Kahlbaum, K. L. (1874) Die Katatonie, oder das Spannungs Irresein. Translation by Levij, Y. & Pridan, T. (1973). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Kirby, G. R. (1913) The catatonic syndrome and its relation to manic-depressive insanity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 40, 695–704.Google Scholar
Lancet (1986) Le bruit de diapason. Lancet, 25 October.Google Scholar
Leff, J. (1988) Psychiatry around the Globe. London: Royal College of Psychiatrists.Google Scholar
Lehman, J. (1966) Mental disturbances followed by stupor in a patient with carcinoidosis. Acta Psychiatrica Sandinavica, 42, 153–161.Google Scholar
Leonhard, K. (1960) Cycloid psychoses. Journal of Mental Science, 107, 633–648.Google Scholar
Levenson, J. L. (1985) Neuroleptic malignant syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 1137–1145.Google Scholar
Mahendra, B. (1981) Where have all the catatonics gone? Psychological Medicine, 11, 669–671.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McEvoy, J. P. & Lohr, J. B. (1984) Diazepam for catatonia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 284–285.Google ScholarPubMed
Miller, G. A. (1966) Wilhelm Wundt, psychologist. In Psychology: The Science of Mental Life. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Monro, H. (1856) On the nomenclature of various forms of insanity. Journal of Mental Science, 2, 286–305.Google Scholar
Morrison, J. R. (1974) Changes in subtype diagnosis of schizophrenia: 1920–1966. American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 674–677.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raskin, D. E. & Frank, S. W. (1975) Herpes encephalitis with catatonic stupor. Journal of the American Medical Association, 231, 544–546.Google Scholar
Romano, J. & Engel, G. C. (1944) Delirium 1: electroencephalographic data. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 52, 290–295.Google Scholar
Sacks, O. (1973) Awakenings. London: Duckworths.Google Scholar
Salam, S. A., Pillai, A. K. & Beresford, T. P. (1987) Lorazepam for psychogenic catatonia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 1082–1083.Google Scholar
Sedler, M. J. (1985) The legacy of Ewald Hecker. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 1265–1271.Google ScholarPubMed
Smith, J. S., Brierley, H. & Brandon, S. (1971) Akinetic mutism with recovery after repeated carbon monoxide poisoning. Psychological Medicine, 1, 172–177.Google Scholar
Spiegel, E. A. & Szekely, E. G. (1961) Prolonged stimulation of the head of the caudate nucleus. Archives of Neurology, 4, 55–65.Google Scholar
von Economo, C. (1931) Encephalitis Lethargica: Its Sequelae and Treatment. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
White, D. A. C. & Robins, A. H. (1991) Catatonia: harbinger of the neuroleptic malignant syndrome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 419–431.Google Scholar
Wilson, S. A. K. (1954) Neurology (2nd edn). London: Butterworth and Company.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.