Shifts Along the Alert-Repose Continuum During Remission of Catatonic "Stupor" with Amobarbital

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Abstract
Physiological measurements of heart rate, amplitude and distribution of muscle potentials and percent-time of both alpha and beta activity in the eeg were assigned arbitrary values according to their expected occurrence on an alert-repose continuum. Similar values were assigned behavioral manifestations. The 2 sets of measurements and their values were obtained in parallel in 21 patients during catatonic "stupor" and following intravenous injection of saline, amobarbital (0.5 g) and nikethamide (0.375 g). The method allowed a simple correlation between complex data from the disciplines of psychology and physiology during the changes produced by these drugs. The correlation indicated that the physiological and behavioral states accompanying catatonic "stupor" were consistent with hyperalertness. This correlation suggests as possible the hypothesis that the subjective state of these patients is not stupor but excitement.

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