Catatonic syndrome is the main syndrome of catatonic schizophrenia. A syndrome in which there is a complex of mental and motor disorders.
Symptoms of the catatonic syndrome
The catatonic syndrome was first described in 1874 by Kalbaum as an independent disease. Later, Kraepelin attributed this syndrome to schizophrenia.
Catatonic stupor – being in one “frozen state” for some time from several hours to days and even months. Catatonic stupor may be characterized by catatonic excitation opposite to stupor – sudden, non-purposeful, unmotivated actions, possibly aggressive behavior. Catatonic stupor may alternate with catatonic excitation.
Wax flexibility – the state when the court does not resist when changing its limbs and position from the outside.
Symptom “air cushion” – if the patient’s head is raised from a prone position, the head will hang without visible support. “Wax flexibility” – occurs due to certain neurotransmitter changes. There is a subordination of the body to various signals from the outside. The body takes on the forms that it is given.
Negativistic stupor is characterized, along with motor inhibition, by the patient’s constant opposition to any attempts to change his posture. Negativism. The patient resists external influences, both physical and vocal.
Types of negativity:
– active – the patient does not do what is asked of him;
– paradoxical – performs opposite actions;
– passive negativism is manifested in the patient’s lack of response to any requests (ignoring) .;
– Mutism . The absence of speech in the presence of all the necessary capabilities for this (vocal cords, palate, tongue, etc.). Sometimes a patient with catatonic schizophrenia reacts only to whispered speech addressed to him, and does not perceive the voice of normal volume (Pavlov’s symptom);
– Stereotypical and paradoxical movements . The patient can shake off something for hours or perform other senseless (automatic) actions of the same type;
Treatment of catatonic schizophrenia
Therapy of the catatonic syndrome depends on the severity of the phase. When excited, neuroleptics are used. (Haloperidol, chlorpromazine). With stupor , anxiolytics , nootropics (improving the blood circulation of the nervous system and the conductivity of impulses in it), neuroleptics are used.
The intensity of the use of drugs and their doses depend on the severity of the disease and the duration of the onset and existence of schizophrenia.