摘要：Catatonia is apsycbe driven motor phenomenon1. It is a syndrome identified by signs ranging from severe excitement to stupor and mutism and different motor manifestations like echo phenomena,posturing,waxy flxibility etc. From the initial conceptalization by Kahlbaum,as anindependentdisease with cyclical course and good prognosis,catatonia has movedon to become acourse specifier for different conditions. The differential diagnosis of catatonia includes drug induced causes (e.g. conventional antipsychotics,phencyclidine),psychictiicauses (e.g. schizopbrenia,depression,mania) and organic causes (viral encepbalitis,Wilson's disease,demyelinating diseases) 2. Benzodiazepines and ECT have been shown to be consistently effective in treatment of acute catatonia,but,in patients with catatonia associated with chronic psychosis the results bave been discouraging3,4. Ilustrated below is a patient with catatonia of two years duration prescnting for psychiatric consultation in the backgroundof organic actiology and the clinical outcome to treatment.
