Catalepsy: what it is, symptoms, causes, and associated disorders.

Some decades ago, this symptom could cause living people to be buried.

For a long time one of the great universal fears of mankind was to be buried alive, even up to the present day. Unfortunately this fear was not unfounded, since there are numerous known cases of people, apparently dead, buried while still alive.

This phenomenon of apparent death is known as catalepsy.and although nowadays there are numerous ways to confirm the death of a person, in the dawn of medicine these cases were very numerous.

What is catalepsy?

Catalepsy is categorized as a disorder of the central nervous system.. This is characterized by the person suffering from body paralysis, along with a stiffening and tightening of the muscles, being unable to perform any type of movement.

Another distinctive sign of catalepsy is that the person experiences a reduced sensitivity to pain. reduced sensitivity to pain. But the most striking feature of this disorder is that the person is absolutely aware of everything, hearing or seeing everything that happens around him.

This disorder has traditionally been known as "apparent death", getting its fame from a series of cases in which some people were buried alive in a state of catalepsy, and which were thought to have died.

The cause of this confusion is that a person in a state of catalepsy can spend anywhere from a few minutes to a few days in a state of catalepsy. can spend from a few minutes to a few weeks paralyzed, showing no obvious signs of life.without showing obvious signs of life.

Although at first glance it may appear to be a terrifying disorder, since it comes on suddenly and the person remains conscious, it is not a serious condition and the person can recover regularly once the condition is determined. On the other hand, cases of catalepsy have been reported in healthy people. It is usually associated with other disorders such as severe diagnoses of schizophrenia, hysteria, and some psychoses.

Symptoms

As mentioned in the previous point, a person without any disorder or disease can suffer an episode of catalepsy; being more likely to occur after he/she suffers some crisis of anxiety, tiredness or lumbar afflictions..

To avoid possible confusion with fainting or even believing that a person has died, it is important to know the symptoms of catalepsy. These are:

• Body stiffness
• Pallor
• Decreased or nullification of response to visual stimuli
• Insensitivity to pain
• Slowing of bodily functions such as breathing and Heart rate
• Lack of control over one's own muscles
• Appearance of waxy flexibility, in which when another person moves any part of the body, it remains in that position.

Thus, catalepsy is expressed through motor and physiological symptoms. This, as we shall see, makes it present some characteristics similar to other diseases, as we shall see.

Causes

Catalepsy cannot be considered a disorder or disease per se, but rather a symptom or product of some pathology of the nervous system, such as epilepsy or Parkinson's disease. It is also a very characteristic symptom of the nervous system, such as epilepsy or Parkinson, it is also a very characteristic symptom of certain psychotic disordersespecially schizophrenia.

In addition to this, some people going through alcohol, drug or narcotic rehabilitation treatments are also susceptible to a catalepsy crisis, so that withdrawal syndrome may be a likely source of catalepsy..

While these are the main causes of this disorder there are a number of situations in which the person is more likely to experience this phenomenon. These are:

• Obesity
• Major depression
• Sleep apnea
• Catalepsy after experiencing very intense emotions

Whatever form it takes, if a person suffers any incident of this type, it is necessary to go to a medical center to rule out any possibility of associated disorder or pathology.

Treatment

After experiencing a case of catalepsy, an urgent evaluation and diagnosis is necessary by means of techniques such as electroencephalograms (EEG) or electrocardiograms (EEC). The purpose of these is to make a correct assessment of the disease and, above all, to exclude the possibility of death.

Unfortunately there is still no specific treatment for catalepsy. for catalepsy. Therefore, it is of vital importance for the clinician to determine the cause, and depending on the final diagnosis, a course of action will be taken to restore the patient's health.

When the primary diagnosis is associated with a disease of the nervous system, such as Parkinson's disease, the guideline is to to administer to the patient a series of muscle relaxants whose benefits have already been demonstrated in these cases.

However, when catalepsy is caused by a psychotic disorder, the protocol for action includes the administration of antipsychotic drugs by the medical staffThe treatment is usually combined with psychotherapy sessions conducted by psychologists or psychiatrists.

In addition, there are a number of useful home remedies for when the episode is relatively recurrent and already diagnosed. This remedy involves immersing the person's feet in a warm bath, massaging the spine and abdomen.

Differences between catalepsy and waxy flexibility

As it is seen in point of symptoms, waxy flexibility is a symptom within catalepsy, and although these terms are often used together.Although these terms are often used interchangeably, they are not exactly the same disorder and reveal fundamental differences.

Just as catalepsy is a disorder of the nervous system, waxy flexibility is a psychomotor symptom. is a psychomotor symptom characteristic of certain psychiatric disorders, such as catastrophic schizophrenia such as catatonic schizophrenia.

Like catalepsy, waxy flexibility presents a decrease in the person's ability to move, as well as a reduction in response to external stimuli, suppressing the will to react and remaining immobile.

However, as the name of this phenomenon describes, even though the person has no control over his own movements, if a third person tries to move a section of his body, he will make the movement but will remain static in the position in which he is standing. will remain static in the position in which it has been left..

Therefore, the person's body adopts the demeanor of a mannequin or wax dummy, only being able to move when another person executes the movement for her or modifies her position.

Bibliographical references:

• Hattori K, Uchino S, Isosaka T, et al. (March 2006). "Fyn is required for haloperidol-induced catalepsy in mice". J. Biol. Chem.
• Sanberg PR, Bunsey MD, Giordano M, Norman AB (1988). «The catalepsy test: its ups and downs». Behav. Neurosci.