Dictionary of Biological Psychology
(from Greek, kata: down, tonos: stretching) Catatonia is one of the four types of SCHIZOPHRENIA idcntified by Kraepelin (1856–1926), the others being paranoid (see PARANOIA) and HEBEPHRENIA.
Catatonia involves periods of muscular RIGIDITY and immobility, possibly including the state of ‘waxy flexibility’ in which patients’ limbs can be put in positions which are then maintained. Catatonia is relatively rare, but is of interest in that it highlights the fact that schizophrenia includes motor disturbance as well as the better-known disorders of thought, perception and cognition.
See also: catalepsy; cataplexy
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