Catatonia and Bipolar Disorder

Catatonia is an extreme mental illness that often occurs with other diseases or conditions, including catatonic behavior. Catatonic disorders are disturbances in muscular movement resulting from a psychological state. Catatonia is a condition characterized by a psychomotor disturbance, an interruption of normal movement. Catatonia is an extreme mental illness that often occurs with other diseases or conditions.  Catatonic features occur most often in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and similar conditions, but can occur with bipolar disorders and major depressive disorder. In some cases, catatonia may also be an extreme side effect of a medication. Stupor is a lack of response to external stimuli, no response to being spoken to or prodded. A person will frequently sit in one position, unable to move for days, weeks, months or even years.
Extremely depressed people diagnosed with catatonic schizophrenia can experience catatonic states. This can leave them unmoving for weeks. A less extreme symptom of catatonic disorder is slowed-down motor activity. Often, the body position or posture of a catatonic person is unusual or inappropriate; in addition, he or she may hold a position if placed in it by someone else. These depressed persons may remain virtually motionless, or move around in an extremely vigorous but apparently random fashion. Extreme negativism, elective mutism (choosing not to speak), peculiar movements, and imitating someone else's words or phrases (echolalia) or movements (echopraxia) may also be part of the symptoms. These behaviors may require caregivers to supervise the patient, to insure that he or she does not hurt him- or herself or others
Bipolar depression is not the only mental disorder that can trigger a catatonic state. Mania or mixed moods can cause a person to become immobile. Catatonic behaviors may also occur in persons with other mood disorders. Persons experiencing manic or mixed mood states (a simultaneous combination of manic and depressive symptoms) may at times exhibit either the immobility or agitated random activity seen in catatonia. A severely depressed person may experience intense emotional pain from simply moving a finger. Even getting up out of a chair can be a painful chore that may take hours for the severely depressed individual. As the depression begins to lift, the catatonic symptoms diminish.
Mood disorders are believed to be at least partially caused by irregularities in production of neurotransmitters within the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that send and receive impulses from one nerve cell to another. Two of the most important neurotransmitters associated with depression are norepinephrine and serotonin. Dopamine is another neurotransmitter that plays a role in the development of depressive disorders.
Treatment of catatonic symptoms due to mood disorder involves therapy directed at the underlying mood disorder. Manic episodes are treated with such mood stabilizers as lithium and Depakote. Depressive episodes are treated with antidepressant medications or, if necessary, electroconvulsive treatment
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When the catatonia is a side effect of the medication; the symptoms will often disappear after the medication wi stopped.