Negativism
Negativism
Negativism is a motor sign of mental disorder, usually schizophrenia, consisting of the patient doing the opposite of what is asked and actively resisting efforts to persuade compliance. Movement of a limb in response to application of pressure despite the patient having been told to resist (mitgehen) is one element of negativism. It may also be a feature of catatonia. The similarity of some of these features to gegen- halten suggests the possibility of frontal lobe dysfunction as the underlying cause.
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