Catalepsy

Catalepsy is a neurological condition marked by muscular rigidity and a fixed bodily posture that persists regardless of outside stimuli, together with a reduced sensitivity to pain. The word comes from the Ancient Greek katalepsis, meaning a seizing or grasping. A person experiencing catalepsy remains conscious and aware of their surroundings but is unable to move voluntarily, and their limbs or body will hold whatever position they are placed in, even if an outside force tries to move them out of it, a feature sometimes described in older clinical writing as waxy flexibility. The condition can appear on its own or as a feature of other underlying illnesses, including catatonia associated with schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions, certain seizure disorders, and some forms of severe depression. Because the rigid, unresponsive presentation can resemble unconsciousness or even death at a glance, catalepsy has historically been mistaken for these states, and it has long been researched both as a clinical phenomenon in humans and as an induced behavioral state that can be produced in some animals under laboratory conditions.