ArticleBMC psychology2022
The psychological and subjective experience of catatonia: a qualitative study.
Article in BMC psychology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence, Phenotypic Correlates and Predictive Factors of Catatonia in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR · 2026Article
- Frozen emotions, frozen bodies: a systematic review of limbic system alterations in catatonia.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Review
- Stress and the Immune System: Insights From Psychoneuroimmunology.Physiological research · 2026Review
- Narrative Review of Catatonia in Psychosis and Eating Disorders: Common Intersections and Treatment Considerations.Early intervention in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Endocannabinoid modulation of defensive state transitions to innate and learned threat.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Lessons on catatonia with or without delirium on the consultation-liaison psychiatry service in a Lebanese tertiary care center: a retrospective chart review of 36 cases of catatonia.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Catatonia in first-episode psychosis: prevalence and psychopathological association.BJPsych open · 2025Article
- Literary case study of psychosis:World journal of psychiatry · 2025Review
- Motor actions across psychiatric disorders: A research domain criteria (RDoC) perspective.Clinical psychology review · 2024Review
- Article
- Catatonia.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2024Review
- [German version of the Northoff scale for subjective experience in catatonia (NSSC-dv) : A validated instrument for examination of the subjective experience in catatonia].Der Nervenarzt · 2024Article
- Orbitofrontal sulcal patterns in catatonia.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2023Article
- Investigating suicidality across the autistic-catatonic continuum in a clinical sample of subjects with major depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Circulating Neuroactive Steroid Levels in a Patient With Schizophrenia Who Showed Periodic Catatonia.JCEM case reports · 2023Article
- Management and outcomes of catatonia: A prospective study in urban South Africa.SAGE open medicine · 2022Article
- Taking an Evidence-Based Approach to 10 Common Myths About Catatonia: An Educational Review.Journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison PsychiatryReview
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCatatonia is a severe psychomotor disorder that presents as abnormality of movement which may also be excessive or severely slowed. It often inhibits communication when protracted or severe. In this study we investigated the emotive and cognitive experience of patients with catatonia during a prevalence study in an acute mental health unit from August 2020 to September 2021. The value of this study is the addition of the inner and often unexplored cognitive and emotive experience of patients in the description of the catatonic state, which lends an additional dimension to complement the medical and psychopathological descriptors that have been the focus of most studies on catatonia.
methodsEthical approval was received from the Nelson Mandela University Human Research Committee and convenience sampling was undertaken to recruit participants admitted into an acute mental health unit with catatonia, four to eight weeks after discharge, following admission. The BFCSI and BFCRS and a pre-designed data collection sheet were used to assess n = 241 participants, and collect data on descriptions of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours they experienced during the catatonic episode.
resultsForty-four (18.3%) of the total 241 participants who were assessed had catatonia. Thirty (68.2%) of the 44 participants with catatonia provided data on their experience of catatonia. Twenty-three were males (76.7% of 30) and seven were females (23.3% of 30). All were within the age range of 17 to 65 years. The dominant themes of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors described centered around yearning for or missing loved ones, heightened fear, intense anxiety, negative affect, aggression, obedience, and withdrawal.
conclusionsThe common themes that emerged from this study were overwhelming anxiety, fear, and depression. These were found to occur frequently in patients with catatonia when describing their psychological experience. These experiences may possibly relate to the flight, fight, freeze and fawn response, as described in prior studies on the subjective experience of catatonia.
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