Short Notes and Clinical Cases: A CASE OF CATATONIA.

Abstract

Prior to his admission, he had been under treatmcnt in one of the war-neuroses hospitals since the middle of March, 1917. The information at my disposal with regard to his mental state prior to his admission is scanty. He was described as nmentally enfeebled, dull, unoccupied, and taciturn, and was said to wander aimlessly about. W/hen I examined him his condition was typical of catatonia. He was mute, negativistic, and sat always in one fixed position, with his head down between his knees, holding on firmly to the seat of his chair. His muscles were taut, his hands clenched, his toes flexed, andi his insteps arched. His deep reflexes were greatly increased. The man's face was screwed up and contorted, and his eyes were firmly closed. His face and his extremities showed a tendency to cyanosis, but were rarely cold. He resisted all attempts at passive movement. He walked with a shuifliing gait, and held hinmself in a constrained attitude. When he exercised in the gardens his beat never varied, and he would continue to walk unitil led to a scat. Only on one or two occasioins was he heard to speak, as, for instance, when he stumbled over some other patient and gave vent to a volley of oaths. The patient would feed himself when the food was placed in front of him; his habits were never defective. This condition was maintained until 12.45 a.m. on Jan. 11, 1921, when the patient suddenlv awoke in the dormitory and asked the night attendant to be allowed to go to the lavatory. He said he felt giddy and his head was going round. He asked to see a medical officer. To the medical officer the patient gave his own account of his awakening, which is of interest. He stated :-" I dreamt I was in a billet at Acle in bed, in a double bed, with Sergt. A. A batman named A. C. used to sleep) in the other bed oIn the other side of the room, and I saw in my dream that his bed was vacant. I called out " Where's A. ? " This seemed to wake me. A young man in a blule suit (the night attendant) came and asked me what was the matter, and I asked him where I was." 154 Protected by copyright.

Autistic and Catatonic Spectrum Symptoms in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

“…Well before Shorter and Fink’s brilliant observations, the traumatic origin of catatonia was captured in the clinical pictures of World War I soldiers. The earliest reported work on the Pubmed database related to catatonia dates back to 1921 and describes the case of a young soldier plunged, as a result of psychic trauma experienced on the battlefield, into a state of catatonia, characterized by stupor, mutism, negativism, catalepsy, waxy flexibility, and fixity of gaze, in which he persisted for the duration of four years, until a sudden awakening with almost immediate recovery of premorbid functioning, followed by an unfortunate and rapid relapse into the stupor state from which he had awakened [ 23 ]. Other recent studies would seem to support the hypothesis of an etiological contribution of psychic trauma in catatonia [ 24 , 25 ].…”