Oneiroid syndrome

Oneiroid syndrome, from the Ancient Greek "ὄνειρος" (oneiros, meaning "dream"), and "εἶδος" (eidos, meaning "form, likeness") is an element of the catatonic form of schizophrenia and presents with a dream-like or nightmare-like state as a background of intensive psychopathological experiences.

Oneiroid states were first described by the German physician Wilhelm Meyer-Gross in 1928, mainly statistically.

Later in 1961 the Bulgarian psychiatrist S.T. Stoyanov^[1] studied the dynamics and the course of the oneiroid syndrome in "periodic", or remittant schizophrenia (ICD-10).

According to this research the syndrome has six stages in its course:

1. initial general-somatic and vegetative disorder
2. delusional mood
3. affective-delusional depersonalisation and derealisation
4. fantastic-delusional and affective depersonalisation and derealisation
5. illusional depersonalisation and derealisation, and
6. catatonic-oneiroid state in the culmination.^[2]

The prognosis of oneiroid catatonia is optimal, in comparison with lucid catatonia.

References

1. Stoianov ST (1961). "[On the clinical aspects and psychopathology of oneiroid states arising during the course of schizophrenia]". Zh Nevropatol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova (in Russian). 61: 1370–7. PMID 13917348.
2. Semenov SF, Pashutova EK (1978). "Clinical features and differential diagnosis of puerperal schizophrenic psychoses" (PDF). Neurosci. Behav. Physiol. 9 (1): 39–44. doi:10.1007/bf01182653. PMID 748822.