Not to be confused with Cataplexy

Cataplexy

Cataplexy is a sudden and transient episode of loss of muscle tone, often triggered by emotions. It is a rare disease , but affects roughly 70% of people who have narcolepsy...

.

For the band of the same name, see Catalepsy (band)

Catalepsy (band)

Catalepsy is an American Deathcore band formed in 2004. To date they have had three releases - one EP, Godless, and two studio albums, Iniquity and Bleed.-History:...

.

Catalepsy (from gr.

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 κατάληψις "catch") is a nervous condition characterized by muscular

Muscle

Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...

 rigidity and fixity of posture

Human position

Human positions refers to the different positions that the human body can take.There are several synonyms that refer to the human position, often used interchangeably, but having specific flavors....

 regardless of external stimuli, as well as decreased sensitivity to pain

Pain

Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...

.

Catalepsy is also a term used by hypnotists

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...

 to refer to the state of making a hypnotised subject's arm, leg or back rigid. "Arm catalepsy" is often a pre-hypnotic test performed prior to an induction into a full trance

Trance

Trance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...

.

Causes

Catalepsy is a symptom of certain nervous disorders or conditions such as Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...

 and epilepsy

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...

. It is also a characteristic symptom of cocaine

Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

 withdrawal. It can be caused by schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...

 treatment with anti-psychotics, such as haloperidol

Haloperidol

Haloperidol is a typical antipsychotic. It is in the butyrophenone class of antipsychotic medications and has pharmacological effects similar to the phenothiazines....

, and by the anesthetic ketamine

Ketamine

Ketamine is a drug used in human and veterinary medicine. Its hydrochloride salt is sold as Ketanest, Ketaset, and Ketalar. Pharmacologically, ketamine is classified as an NMDA receptor antagonist...

. In some cases, isolated cataleptic instances can also be precipitated by extreme emotional shock. Protein kinase A has been suggested as a mediator of cataleptic behavior.

Symptoms

Symptoms include: rigid body, rigid limbs, limbs staying in same position when moved (waxy flexibility

Waxy flexibility

Waxy flexibility is a psychomotor symptom of catatonic schizophrenia which leads to a decreased response to stimuli and a tendency to remain in an immobile posture....

), no response, loss of muscle control, and slowing down of bodily functions, such as breathing.

Artistic depictions

In the arts, catalepsy is often used for drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

tic effect, sometimes as a plot device

Plot device

A plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....

.

In literature

In Alexandre Dumas, père

Alexandre Dumas, père

Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...

's novel The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is often considered to be, along with The Three Musketeers, Dumas's most popular work. He completed the work in 1844...

, the Abbé Faria has fits of catalepsy from time to time, before eventually dying from one.

In George Eliot

George Eliot

Mary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...

's Silas Marner

Silas Marner

Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe is a dramatic novel by George Eliot. Her third novel, it was first published in 1861. An outwardly simple tale of a reclusive weaver, in its strong realism it represents one of Eliot's most sophisticated treatments of her attitude to religion.-Plot summary:The...

, the main character Silas Marner frequently has cataleptic fits and seizures. It is not mentioned if they are caused by any of the aforementioned factors.

In Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

's "The Adventure of the Resident Patient

The Adventure of the Resident Patient

"The Adventure of the Resident Patient", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes...

", a man feigns catalepsy to gain access to a neurologist's rooms; the doctor attempts to treat him with amyl nitrite

Amyl nitrite

Amyl nitrite is the chemical compound with the formula C5H11ONO. A variety of isomers are known, but they all feature an amyl group attached to the nitrito functional group. The alkyl group is unreactive and the chemical and biological properties are mainly due to the nitrite group...

.

In Ford Madox Ford

Ford Madox Ford

Ford Madox Ford was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals, The English Review and The Transatlantic Review, were instrumental in the development of early 20th-century English literature...

's The Good Soldier

The Good Soldier

The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion is a 1915 novel by English novelist Ford Madox Ford. It is set just before World War I and chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham, the soldier to whom the title refers, and his own seemingly perfect marriage and that of two American friends...

, the protagonist Dowell experiences catalepsy following the death of his wife.

In Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein

Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...

's Stranger in a Strange Land

Stranger in a Strange Land

Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians. The novel explores his interaction with—and...

, the main character Valentine Michael Smith is believed to have catalepsy when he is returned to Earth.

In Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

's "The Premature Burial

The Premature Burial

"The Premature Burial" is a horror short story on the theme of being buried alive, written by Edgar Allan Poe and published in 1844 in The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. Fear of being buried alive was common in this period and Poe was taking advantage of the public interest...

", the narrator develops catalepsy. He fears being mistakenly declared dead and buried alive, and goes to great lengths to prevent this. In another of Poe's short stories, "The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher

"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in September 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. It was slightly revised in 1840 for the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque...

", Madeline Usher has catalepsy, and is buried alive by her unstable brother Roderick. Catalepsy is also depicted in "Berenice

Berenice (short story)

"Berenice" is a short horror story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1835. The story follows a man named Egaeus who is preparing to marry his cousin Berenice. He has a tendency to fall into periods of intense focus during which he seems to separate himself...

", thus becoming one of the recurrent themes in Poe's fiction.

In Poppy Z. Brite

Poppy Z. Brite

Poppy Z. Brite is an American author. Brite initially achieved notoriety in the gothic horror genre of literature in the early 1990s after publishing a string of successful novels and short story collections...

's "Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite corpse is a surrealist technique, but may also refer to:Literature* Exquisite Corpse , edited by Andrei Codrescu* Exquisite Corpse , a 1996 novel by Poppy Z...

", the main character, Comptom, a serial killer (recreation of Jeffery Dahmer's life story) facing a lifetime sentence, uses shamanistic techniques to induce catalepsy, and convincingly deceased is able to escape prison.

In Émile Zola

Émile Zola

Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...

's short story La Mort d'Olivier Becaille (The Death of Olivier Becaille), the title character is buried alive and notes that "I must have fallen into one of those cataleptic states that I had read of".

In Sax Rohmer

Sax Rohmer

Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward , better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr...

's Fu-Manchu novels, Dr. Fu-Manchu has a serum that induces a state of catalepsy so extreme as to be indistinguishable from death.

In Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...

's novel Bleak House

Bleak House

Bleak House is the ninth novel by Charles Dickens, published in twenty monthly installments between March 1852 and September 1853. It is held to be one of Dickens's finest novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon...

, Mrs. Snagsby has violent spasms before becoming cataleptic and being carried upstairs like a grand piano.

In Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...

 Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Greek Philosophy to Plato, Hegel describes Socrates

Socrates

Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...

 as having catalepsy caused by magnetic somnambulism when in deep meditation.

In Charles Williams's novel Many Dimensions, Sir Giles Tumulty says to Lord Arglay, the Chief Justice of England: "You are a louse-brained catalept, Arglay."

In Philip K Dick's novel Now Wait For Last Year

Now Wait for Last Year

Now Wait for Last Year is a 1966 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. The novel describes a future where the planet Earth has allied with an extraterrestrial species known as 'Starmen in their war against another species, the Reegs.-Plot summary:...

, Kathy Sweetscent becomes immobilized by withdrawal from JJ-180, an alien (and highly addictive) drug. "My God, Kathy thought as she stood gazing down at the record by her feet. I can't free myself; I'm going to remain here, and they'll find me like this and know something's terribly wrong. This is catalepsy!"

In "Suspense" radio play - March 24, 1949 Dead Ernest Character Ernest Bowers is mistaken for dead after being hit by a car.

In film and television

In performances and portrayals, catalepsy places unusual demands on actress; it is harder than it looks.

In Sam Taylor's Kiki (1931) Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

 feigns a case of catalepsy to keep from being removed from the apartment of the man she secretly loves.

In the soap opera La Traición

La Traición

La Traición is a Colombian-American telenovela co-produced by United States-based Telemundo and RTI Colombia. Telemundo debuted this serial on January 29, 2008, replacing Madre Luna. This show is also known as Betrayed....

, the main character, Hugo De Medina, has catalepsy. Later in the telenovela it is revealed that his daughter, Aurora, has the same illness.

In Chavo del Ocho, the main character, El Chavo, would have cataleptic-like fits if frightened, where he would curl as if sitting down in a chair and become stiff. However, he could be healed by being splashed with water.

In the 1965 Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

 film Repulsion

Repulsion

Repulsion is a 1965 British psychological thriller film directed by Roman Polanski, based on a scenario by Gérard Brach and Roman Polanski. It was Polanski's first English language film, and was shot in Britain, as such being his second film made outside his native Poland. The cast includes...

, Catherine Deneuve

Catherine Deneuve

Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...

's character shows signs of the affliction through her erratic and unexplainable behavior.

In two Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...

 episodes, "Statistical Probabilities" and "Chrysalis", the character Sarina Douglas, a genetically-enhanced human woman, exhibits cataleptic symptoms. In "Chrysalis", Dr. Bashir

Julian Bashir

Lieutenant Julian Subatoi Bashir, M.D., played by Alexander Siddig, is a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Bashir is the chief medical officer of space station Deep Space Nine and the USS Defiant.-Overview:...

promises to do everything he can to cure her of the disorder, and is ultimately successful.