EDITOR, - D L Maxwell and colleagues report two cases of catatonic stupor in patients who had taken 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (“ecstasy”).1 I doubt whether the patients exhibited sufficient features to justify the diagnosis of catatonic stupor.

Catatonia is a behavioural neurological syndrome characterised by abnormal motor behaviour and periods of extreme hyperactivity and hypoactivity.2 Mutism and stupor are common, but alone they are not pathognomonic. Several organic conditions associated …