What is a Dissociative Stupor?
Dissociative stupor is a disorder in which the patient’s behavior meets the criteria for stupor, but the examination and examination do not reveal his physical condition. As with other dissociative disorders, psychogenic conditioning is additionally found in the form of recent stressful events or marked interpersonal or social problems.
Causes of Dissociative Stupor
Etiology of psychogenia, leading to a shock reaction stupor.
Symptoms of Dissociative Stupor
A stupor that has no physical causes, is psychogenically conditioned, is diagnosed on the basis of a sharp decrease or absence of voluntary movements and normal reactions to external stimuli, such as light, noise, and touch. For a long time, the patient lies or sits essentially motionless. Speech and spontaneous and purposeful movements are completely or almost completely absent. Although some degree of impairment of consciousness may be present, muscle tone, body position, breathing, and sometimes opening of the eyes and coordinated eye movements are such that it becomes clear that the patient is neither in a state of sleep nor unconscious.
Diagnosis of Dissociative Stupor
For a reliable diagnosis should be:
- the presence of symptoms of stupor (state of immobility, stupor with partial or complete mutism, the absence or reduction of the response to external stimuli, both visual, auditory, tactile, and pain;
- the absence of a physical or mental disorder that could explain the stupor;
- information about recent stressful events or current problems.
Differential diagnosis: It is necessary to differentiate with organic diseases of the central nervous system, catatonic, akinetic, apathetic, depressive stupor, as well as stupor caused by delusional or hallucinatory experiences. Symptoms and behavioral signs suggesting schizophrenia often precede stupor in catatonic schizophrenia.
The problem is that a stupor, starting as a dissociative, can later turn into manic or depressive. A depressive and manic stupor develops relatively slowly, so the information received from other informants can be crucial. Due to the widespread use of affective disease therapy in the early stages, depressive and manic stupor is becoming less common in many countries.
Treatment of Dissociative Stupor
Psychoanalysis, caffeine-amitic disinhibition, psychotherapy, aimed at responding.