Rethinking Catatonia: New Insights from the Autism Spectrum.

Initially conceptualized as a subtype of schizophrenia, catatonia has progressively been recognized to occur in a broad variety of conditions, as a kind of final common pathway for many severe men-tal disorders. There is a significant overlap between the fundamental symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and catatonia, and ASD can frequently complicate with catatonic states. While provocative, the hypothesis that neuroatypicality may represent the submerged structural piece un-derlying catatonic states is intriguing. Yet, the multifaced relationship between catatonia and ASD may provide new insights in the etiology and treatment of both disorders. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.