Catatonia under medication with risperidone in a 61-year-old patient

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder.
• Frontal lobotomy is a psychosurgical procedure.
• Atypical antipsychotics are commonly used to treat schizophrenia.

Observation:

• A 61-year-old female patient with schizophrenia and a history of frontal lobotomy presented with paranoid delusions.
• The patient developed severe catatonia while treated with risperidone, a serotonergic/dopaminergic neuroleptic, at doses up to 5 mg daily.
• The catatonic symptoms were dose-dependent.

Findings:

• Catatonia is a neuropsychiatric condition characterized by motor, cognitive, and affective disturbances.
• Risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic, can have various side effects.
• Clozapine is another atypical antipsychotic with a different pharmacological profile.

Implications:

• This case suggests a potential association between risperidone and the development of catatonia in susceptible individuals.
• The findings highlight the importance of considering medication side effects in patients with complex psychiatric histories.
• Switching to clozapine effectively resolved the catatonic symptoms, indicating its potential utility in similar cases.