The pharmacological treatment of catatonia: an overview.

Abstract

Over the past two decades, catatonia, particularly its acutely emerging akinetic-hypokinetic (stuporous) variant, has gradually regained its importance in descriptive psychopathology. Electroconvulsive therapy and lately benzodiazepines are not only effective treatment options in this form of catatonia, but also helped generate neurobiological hypotheses concerning its pathophysiology. Within this broad framework, this paper summarizes the results of recent benzodiazepine treatment response studies in catatonic movement disorders with particular reference to the authors' own studies in Chinese patients with catatonia.

• Authors: G S Ungvari, L S Kau, T Wai-Kwong, N F Shing
• Journal: European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience (Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci) Vol. 251 Suppl 1 Pg. I31-4 ( 2001) ISSN: 0940-1334 [Print] Germany
• PMID: 11776269 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Benzodiazepines

Topics

• Benzodiazepines (therapeutic use)
• Catatonia (drug therapy)
• Humans
• Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic