Ask the doctor: What is catatonia?

Q. What is catatonia? You hardly hear about it anymore. Has it been cured?

A. As a 2009 review in the Archives of General Psychiatry aptly put it, catatonia may be forgotten, but it's certainly not gone. Long associated with schizophrenia ("catatonic type"), the latest research indicates that catatonia is a syndrome unto itself, and one that can be effectively treated.

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