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catatonia |
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catatonia (kăt'ətō`nēə), mental state generally characterized by statuesque posturing, muscular immobility, mutism, and apparent stupor. The muscles are held in a pliant state called waxy flexibility, and the catatonic person obediently permits himself to be rearranged into awkward positions that he may subsequently hold for hours. Another form of catatonia involves continuous incoherent shouting, psychomotor agitation, and a violent destructiveness which can lead to collapse and death if untreated. Loss of memory or intellect is not necessarily implied: catatonic patients often display excellent memory of their surroundings during the catatonic state. In recent years, drug therapy has been helpful in the avoidance of catatonic disturbances, and the appearance of catatonia is now quite rare. Described by Karl Kahlbaum (1874) as catatonia, the term was subsumed under Eugen Bleuler Manfred Bleuler, conducted important follow-up studies in the Burghölzi hospital made famous by his father, and summarized these in The Schizophrenic Disorders (1978).
BibliographySee E. Bleuler Dementia Praecox (1911, tr. 1950). ..... Click the link for more information. 's concept of schizophrenia schizophrenia (skĭt'səfrē`nēə) ..... Click the link for more information. in 1911. It has recently been classified as catatonic schizophrenia by the American Psychiatric Association. catatonia a state of muscular rigidity and stupor, sometimes found in schizophrenia How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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Echoing Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays," the poet registers how his sensitivities awaken to the sacrifices that his own father made as well as to the meaning of his catatonia. For this group of films, the artist asked sixteen actors to execute scripted sequences of what she calls "attitudes"--behavioral cues ranging from the emotive catatonia and melancholic loss to the physical bayonet in the back, golf swing, and speech to the senate--and to repeat this limited vocabulary of movements precisely. Most contemporary scholarship regarding demon possession goes the route of categorizing it in terms of illness: epilepsy or schizophrenia, mania or bipolar disorder, catatonia or autism. |
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