Asian journal of psychiatry
October 7, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Catatonia as a disorder of agency: Commentary on Wang et al.
Hall H.
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
This commentary argues that catatonia is better understood as a disorder of agency than of motor output, which could explain unstable factor structures in prior work.
What was studied
A commentary on Wang et al. (2026) proposing that catatonia criteria organised by the form of the signs, rather than the disturbance they express, may account for the reported unstable factor structure.
Key findings
- Many defining catatonia signs preserve motor output, and in several the examiner supplies the initiation
- The author predicts patients will later report blocked intention during immobility but not for elicited signs
- Dissociation should be assessed directly, by observation during the episode and self-report afterwards
Clinical relevance
May prompt clinicians and researchers to reconsider how catatonia signs are classified and to ask patients about their experience of intention after an episode.
Who should care
Limitations
An opinion piece with no new data; the predictions are untested and the abstract does not describe the Wang et al. study in detail.
A conceptual proposal to reframe catatonia around agency, awaiting empirical testing.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
Catatonia is conventionally understood as a disorder of motor output, yet many defining signs preserve that output, and in several signs the examiner supplies the initiation. This commentary proposes that catatonia is better described as a disorder of agency, and that criteria organized by the form the signs take rather than by the disturbance they express may account for the unstable factor structure Wang et al. (2026) report. It predicts that patients will later report blocked intention during immobility, and will not report the elicited signs. Catatonia research should assess dissociation directly, by observation during the episode and self-report after it.
DOI
10.1016/j.ajp.2026.105174
PMID
42868735
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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