catatonia

2 definitions found

catatonia - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  catatonia \cat`a*ton"ia\ n. [Gr. katatonos, stretching down,
     depressed, fr. kata` down + to`nos stretching, straining,
     tone (sound). --Stedman.] (Psychiatry)
     an abnormal behavioral syndrome characterized by stupor,
     negativism, and muscular rigidity, sometimes alternating with
     purposeless excitement, and seen most frequently in
     schizophrenia; called also catatonic schizophrenia.
     [PJC]

catatonia - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  catatonia
      n 1: extreme tonus; muscular rigidity; a common symptom in
           catatonic schizophrenia
      2: a form of schizophrenia characterized by a tendency to remain
         in a fixed stuporous state for long periods; the catatonia
         may give way to short periods of extreme excitement [syn:
         catatonic schizophrenia, catatonic type schizophrenia,
         catatonia]