Catatonia in adolescents: series of 12 inpatients

Catatonia is one of the most severe psychiatric syndromes that might be caused by many medical as well as psychiatric conditions. Catatonia in adolescents is rare and largely understudied.

This papers aims to examine cases of catatonia among adolescent psychiatric inpatients, and to scrutinize both the etiologies and the management options.

A retrospective descriptive study involving all cases of catatonia among adolescents admitted to the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Razi Hospital - Manouba - Tunisia between January 2006 and December 2013. Catatonia was confirmed by Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale. Medical records were examined for gender, age, clinical presentation, medical or psychiatric diagnosis as well as management. Psychiatric diagnoses were made according to the DSM-IV criteria.

Our series consisted of 12 cases, aged between 12 and 16 with a sex ratio male/female of 0.5. Catatonia was due to a medical condition in three cases and to a psychiatric disorder in the other nine cases. Psychiatric diagnoses included: manic episode (n=3), major depressive episode (n=2), schizophrenia (n=2), pervasive developmental disorder (n=1) and conversion disorder (n=1).

Catatonia is rare yet life-threatening. Careful and thorough examination is needed to determine the etiological disorder, on which depend both treatment and prognosis.