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Abstract
A previously healthy professional athlete in his 20s, with no prior psychiatric or medical history, presented with a 4-day history of rapidly progressive neurological deterioration. This manifested as persistent stupor, mutism and profound psychomotor retardation, enduring several weeks with minimal improvement despite escalating doses of lorazepam (up to 14 mg/day). Extensive investigations at a tertiary neurological centre in the UK revealed no identifiable organic cause. The patient’s symptoms ameliorated promptly with the initiation of electroconvulsive therapy in conjunction with lorazepam.
- Neurology
- Psychiatry
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Footnotes
Contributors SB, EW reviewed case notes, drafted the article and did a preliminary literature review. EW is the consultant responsible for treating the patient (SB’s supervisor), discussing the submission and gaining consent from the patient, revising the manuscript considerably and writing the discussion. EW is the guarantor and is responsible for word processing and extracting bracketed citations from the body of the article and organising them in accordance with the house style at the end of the document.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Case reports provide a valuable learning resource for the scientific community and can indicate areas of interest for future research. They should not be used in isolation to guide treatment choices or public health policy.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.