[Psychopathological aspects of "raptus melancholicus"]

The term "raptus melancholicus" is rarely used in clinical or scientific discussions. There is a lack of data on frequency and attribution to psychiatric disorders. It is found more often in the older literature where authors write of detailed personal experiences with this malicious phenomenon, but the published information is isolated as well. Clinicians and forensic psychiatrists judge raptus melancholicus to represent a risk for suicidal attempts as it appears suddenly and unexpectedly, arising from a state of delayed and inhibited psychomotor motility. This enigma, which sounds quite paradoxical, requires a psychopathological explanation as offered here. The inclusion of forensic aspects suggests that raptus melancholicus is not such a rare entity.