Mental health problems >>>> What is catatonic stupor?
What is catatonic stupor?
In some psychopathological conditions, patients may fall into a catatonic stupor - freezing for a long time in one position (often uncomfortable and unnatural). With catatonic stupor, three types of it can be observed:
- cataleptic stupor, in which waxy flexibility is observed in the frozen limbs, when the patient's posture can be forcibly changed;
- negativistic stupor, in which the patient's posture cannot be changed, since the frozen muscles seem to resist the application of force;
- numbness, in which there is an increased tone of muscle tissue and the patient is folded according to the principle of an embryo.
In all states of stupor, the patient is silent and does not respond to external stimuli.
A person can at times come out of a state of stupor and again find himself immobilized. In some cases, catatonic stupor may subside during sleep.
Catatonic stupor can develop in many mental diseases: during depression, asthenic syndrome, schizophrenia and other pathologies of mental disorders.
The causes of catatonic stupor are not thoroughly understood, but scientific psychiatry and neurology blame the state of catatonic stupor on damage to the cerebral cortex, for example, as a result of a violation of the intake of substances responsible for the motor activity of muscle tissue.
Treatment of catatonic stupor (removal from stupor) is carried out by the introduction of benzodiazepines, electrical stimulation, dopaminergic drugs.
With prolonged stupor, treatment is carried out in a hospital, parenteral and intravenous nutrients are injected to maintain the vital functions of the body and prevent dehydration. Turn the person in different directions to avoid pressure ulcers and vascular thrombosis.
Read
Read
