A catatonic woman awakened after 20 years. Her story may change psychiatry

Amazing stuff! However, a very long article!

Another intriguing example that often physical factors are behind severe psychiatric disorders.

You may wonder why it took almost 20 years to discover that this catatonic patient had also lupus.

"... [patient] was diagnosed [in 2000?] with a severe form of schizophrenia, an often devastating mental illness that affects approximately 1 percent of the global population and can drastically impair how patients behave and perceive reality. ...

It would be nearly two decades before their paths crossed again. But in 2018, another chance encounter led to several medical discoveries reminiscent ...

[doctors] discovered that although [patient]’s illness was clinically indistinguishable from schizophrenia, she also had lupus, an underlying and treatable autoimmune condition that was attacking her brain.
After months of targeted treatments — and more than two decades trapped in her mind — [patient] woke up. ..."

How autoimmune disease can attack the brain, cause psychiatric symptoms - The Washington Post New research suggests that a subset of patients with psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia may actually have autoimmune disease that attacks the brain

Credits: Human Progress Weekly Links