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Catalepsy is a disorder in which the person is unable to move due to muscle stiffness, not being able to move the limbs, the head and even being unable to speak. However, all of your senses and vital functions continue to function properly, which can cause extreme feelings of panic and anxiety.
This condition usually lasts for a few minutes, but in more rare cases, it can continue for several hours. For this reason, there are stories of people who were buried alive during a cataleptic state, which today would be impossible, since there are devices that detect vital functions, such as the electroencephalogram and the electrocardiogram.
Main types and causes of catalepsy
Catalepsy can be divided into two main types:
- Pathological catalepsy: the person has muscular rigidity and cannot move, looking like a statue. This disorder causes a lot of suffering, because the person can hear and see everything around him, he just cannot react physically. These people can be mistaken for a corpse, due to the similarity of the symptoms to the rigor mortis, also called cadaveric stiffness, which occurs after death.
Projective catalepsy, also known as sleep paralysis: is a disorder that occurs just after waking up or when trying to fall asleep and that prevents the body from moving, even when the mind is awake. Thus, the person wakes up but cannot move, causing anguish, fear and terror. Learn more about sleep paralysis.
It is not clear what causes pathological catalepsy, but it is thought that it can be induced by some neuroleptic drugs, genetic predisposition combined with serious neurological problems, such as depression. In addition, it is thought that it may be caused by head injuries, congenital malformation of a brain region, schizophrenia or epilepsy.
Projective catalepsy happens because during sleep the brain relaxes all the muscles in the body, keeping them immobile so that energy can be conserved and prevent sudden movements during dreams. However, when there is a communication problem between the brain and the body during sleep, the brain may take time to return movement to the body, leaving the person paralyzed.
What symptoms
The signs and symptoms that can occur during a catalepsy attack are:
- Complete paralysis of the body;
- Muscle stiffness;
- Inability to move the eyes;
- Inability to speak
- Feeling of shortness of breath.
In addition to these symptoms, because it is an extremely distressing situation, the person with catalepsy may also experience a lot of fear and panic, in addition to being able to develop auditory hallucinations, such as hearing voices and sounds that do not exist.
How the treatment is done
Treatment depends on the severity of the symptoms and the duration of the episodes, but a good option to avoid these attacks is to maintain a regular and peaceful sleep. Antidepressants or hypnotics such as anafranil or clomipramine, for example, may also be prescribed by the doctor and psychotherapy sessions may be associated.
In addition, the administration of muscle relaxant medications can be effective in some people with catalepsy, who avoid the state of total immobility.