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 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:
- initial general-somatic and vegetative disorder
- delusional mood
- affective-delusional depersonalisation and derealisation
- fantastic-delusional and affective depersonalisation and derealisation
- illusional depersonalisation and derealisation, and
- catatonic-oneiroid state in the culmination.
The prognosis of oneiroid catatonia is optimal, in comparison with lucid catatonia.
References
Oneiroid syndrome Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA