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

For a long time one of the great universal fears of humanity was being buried alive, even reaching 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 there are currently numerous ways to confirm the death of a person, at the dawn of medicine these cases were very numerous.

• Related article: "Sleep Paralysis: Definition, Symptoms, and Causes"

What is catalepsy?

Catalepsy is categorized as a central nervous system disorder. This is characterized by the fact that the person suffers bodily paralysis, together with a hardening and tension of the muscles, being unable to carry out any type of movement.

Another hallmark of catalepsy is that the person experiences a reduced sensitivity to pain. But the most striking thing about this disorder is that the person is absolutely aware of everything, coming to hear or see everything that happens around them.

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

The cause of this confusion is that a person in a state of trance can spend anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks paralyzed, without showing obvious signs of life.

Although at first glance it seems like a terrifying disorder, since it appears suddenly and the person remains conscious, 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. Usually, its appearance is related to other disorders such as serious diagnoses of schizophrenia, of hysteria and in some psychosis.

Symptoms

As mentioned in the previous point, a person without any type of disorder or disease can suffer an episode of catalepsy; being more likely to happen after it suffers from any crisis of anxiety, fatigue or lumbar afflictions.

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

• body stiffness
• Pallor
• Decreased or canceled response to visual stimuli
• insensitivity to pain
• slow bodily functions such as breathing and heart rate
• Lack of control over own muscles
• Appearance of waxy flexibility, in which when another person moves any part of the body, the person stays in that position.

Thus, catalepsy is expressed through motor and physiological symptoms. This, as we will see, makes it present some characteristics similar to other diseases, as we will 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. In addition, It is a very characteristic symptom of certain psychotic disordersespecially schizophrenia.

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

Although 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

Be that as it may, if a person suffers an incident of this type, it is necessary for them to go to a medical center to rule out any possibility of an associated disorder or pathology.

• You may be interested in: "What is brain death? Is it irreversible?"

Treatment

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

Unfortunately, there is no specific treatment yet for catalepsy. Therefore, it is of vital importance for the clinician to specify what the cause has been, and according to the final diagnosis, an action process will be carried out to restore the patient's health.

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

However, when the catalepsy is caused by a psychotic disorder, the action protocol encompasses the administration of antipsychotic medications by medical personnel, along with psychotherapy sessions led by psychologists or psychiatrists.

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

Differences between catalepsy and waxy flexibility

As seen in point of symptoms, waxy flexibility is a symptom in catalepsy, and although these terms are often used interchangeably, they do not constitute exactly the same alteration and reveal fundamental differences.

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

Like catalepsy, waxy flexibility impairs the person's ability to move, as does a reduction of the response to external stimuli, suppressing the will to react and remaining in an attitude still.

However, as the name of this phenomenon describes, despite the fact that the person does not have any kind of control over his own movements, if a third person tries to move any section of his body, he will carry out the movement but it will remain static in the position in which they have left it.

Therefore, the body of the person adopts the bearing of a mannequin or a wax doll, being only capable of moving when another person executes the movement for her or modifies her position.

Bibliographic 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.