A 30-year-old man with a known diagnosis of schizophrenia is found rigid, mute, and unresponsive on the ward, his face utterly blank. When a nurse gently lifts his arm and lets go, it remains suspended in the air where she left it. Before revealing the answer: what is this specific finding on his arm called, and what does its presence, alongside his other features, tell you about the type of stupor he is in?
This finding is catalepsy — a limb remaining in a passively imposed position after being released. Its presence, alongside his rigidity, mutism, and blank facial expression, strongly supports catatonic stupor rather than depressive stupor, since catalepsy is a core catatonic feature that does not occur in depressive stupor.
References
- Casey, P. & Kelly, B. (2019). Fish's Clinical Psychopathology, 4th ed. Ch. 8, 'Motor Disorders'.