Which signs prompt urgent assessment for catatonia?

• A. Epileptic seizures
• B. Marked motor immobility or marked agitation with abnormal movements or behavior
• C. Severe memory loss
• D. Hallucinations only at night

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that catatonia presents with dramatic psychomotor changes, and urgent assessment is triggered by either severe motor immobility or marked motor agitation with abnormal movements or behaviors. When someone becomes stuporous or immobile with rigidity, waxy flexibility, stupor, mutism, or, on the opposite end, extreme agitation with bizarre or repetitive movements, this constellation signals catatonia and needs swift evaluation to identify underlying causes and prevent serious complications. Other signs like epileptic seizures, severe memory loss, or nighttime hallucinations don’t reflect the core motor-psychomotor disturbances of catatonia, so they don’t prompt the same urgent assessment.