Catatonia was first described in 1873 by a German psychiatrist, Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum in his monograph titled ''Die Katatonie oder Das Spannungsirresein'' (Catatonia or tension insanity) (Kahlbaum, 1873). He conceptualized catatonia as a motor syndrome characterized by lack of motion, speech, alternating with periods of excessive purposeful motor activity, rigidity, negativism, verbigeration, automatic imbalance, posturing, grimacing and stereotypes. He also described that the syndrome generally had a periodic course and lethal outcome in a few. Despite a long history, "katatonia" was associated with different illnesses and was given as diagnostic specifier. DSM- V made a change and added catatonia as an independent diagnostic symptom.