THE KAHLBAUM SYNDROME - A STUDY OF ITS CLINICAL VALIDITY, NOSOLOGICALSTATUS, AND RELATIONSHIP WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA AND MOOD DISORDER

Kahlbaum described catatonia as a disorder in which mood syndromes wer e the primary features and characteristic symptoms were the motor ones . However, after Kahlbaum this concept has not been taken into account and catatonia has been identified with motor features alone, In the p resent study, we assessed the clinical validity of Kahlbaum's concept of catatonia, its nosological position in relation to DSM-III-R, DSM-I V, and Leonhard's diagnostic criteria, and its relationships with schi zophrenia and mood disorder. Of 567 patients consecutively admitted du e to a functional psychotic disorder, 45 met criteria for catatonia ac cording to Kahlbaum's concept (the Kahlbaum syndrome [KS]). Patients w ith the KS were differentiated from those with schizophrenia and mood disorders across a number of demographic and clinical variables, the d ifferences being greater with the former than with the latter group. K S does not appear to fit any particular nosologic category, although t his issue largely depends on whether schizophrenia and mood disorder a re broadly or restrictively defined. When definitions of both disorder s are most restrictive, as in the case of the Leonhard system, KS seem s better accommodated as a ''third psychosis.'' Overall, the data rais e the possibility that KS is either a variant of mood disorder, or a d istinct clinical entity. Copyright (C) 1997 by W.B. Saunders Company