Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 February 2018
A patient in a state of stupor presents one of the most remarkable phenomena seen in medicine. The term “stupor” itself is in widespread use in general medicine and usually refers to partial or near coma. Its precise use in psychiatric practice implies a condition of immobility and muteness without loss of consciousness or organic paralysis. The term “akinetic mutism” is sometimes used to describe such states, particularly by neurologists. The actual clinical appearance or syndrome is too well known to warrant a detailed description. Essentially, for the purposes of this paper, it is equated with akinesis and mutism.
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