title: Catatonia: the tension insanity.
abstract: A historical review of Kahlbaum's Catatonia is presented. He attributed the condition to organic cerebral disease. It is now best considered as a neuropsychiatric syndrome due to a wide variety of organic disease processes, manifest in catelepsy in a setting of an abnormal mental state, most commonly an affective disorder. Chronic catatonic states were common sequelae of encephalitis lethargica; this disease has now disappeared in epidemic form with a resulting fall in the incidence of catatonia in psychiatric hospitals. Acute catatonia, due to medical and particularly pharmacogenic causes, continues to occur in current psychiatric practice.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of South Manchester.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D002389:Catatonia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests