Catatonic schizophrenia has been described as being decreasing in prevalence. We present a case of a 16 year-old-girl, previously healthy, who develops catatonic schizophrenia in a 5 months period.

we present the case of a 16-year-old girl, previously healthy, with family history of schizophrenia, develops 5 months prior to hospital admittance isolation from friends and odd behaviour, like suddenly standing still and speechless (thought blocking). She maintains these attitudes and 3 months after, develops delirious thoughts of death with agitation (screaming and undressing). One month prior to admittance she becomes diskinetic and mute, with loss of sphincter control. She is medicated by a neurologist with olanzapine 5mg od and valproate 200mg bid. As her clinical state worsens, she is brought to a central hospital, where she has MRI and lumbar puncture normal. She is observed by neurologists and psychiatrists in the emergency room. Against the psychiatrist opinion, she is admitted to the neurology ward. After repeating MRI and lumbar puncture and searching for neurotrophic viruses and prions´ disease, which all turn out negative, she is proposed for electroconvulsivetherapy (ECT) and transferred to a psychiatric ward.

She is submitted to 14 ECT and medicated with seroquel 300 bid with dramatic improvement.

this case illustrates the secondary role psychiatry is sometimes appointed to in contemporary medicine. Catatonic schizophrenia is a rare disorder and an even rarer form of presentation of schizophrenia. Nevertheless, it exists, and should be taken into account in the differential diagnosis of diskinesia.