Nosological Dilemma and Clinical Polymorphism of the Catatonia Phenomenon

Abstract

Objective: to provide the description of researchers’ views evolution and provide the review of modern scientific literature on nosological affiliation and clinical features of catatonia. Material and methods: Scopus, PubMed, Cochrane Library, eLIBRARY databases were searched for literature (44 000 papers) using the keyword ‘catatonia‘. Based on the selection criteria, the search has been found the clinical cases, cohort and random studies, dedicated to psychopathologic description of catatonia, accompanied by affective disorders, autism and hysteria. 50 papers issued between 2000 and 2020 were selected for the analysis. Conclusions: catatonia, traditionally treated as a symptom of schizophrenia, currently is predominantly interpreted as a “transnosological syndrome”, which accompanies various (both mental and somatic) diseases. The clinical manifestations of catatonia in affective disorders, autism and hysteria have their own distinctive features, also the presence of catatonic symptoms is associated with a greater severity of the underlying disease, low quality of remissions, which explains why the experts are wary of the endogenic factors.