What follows is a list of resources about catatonia that many people have found helpful, in no particular order.
Here is a video, featuring Dr. Amitta Shah, which offers an introduction to Dr. Shah's work and to the topic of autistic catatonia.
Here is a medical journal article about catatonia in people with developmental disorders (paywalled), such as autism. This article shows that autistic catatonia is very widely overlooked by doctors, because catatonia and autism can look a lot alike. There is also an appendix that includes passages from other medical articles that say the same thing.
Here is a medical journal article from 2025 (paywalled), which describes the symptoms of autistic catatonia and discusses possible treatments. It is a good, recent overview of the topic. It is a little bit limited because it focuses mostly on a) adults, b) people with intellectual disabilities, and c) men. But the information in it could still be helpful for lots of different kinds of people.
Here is a medical journal article from 2023 which offers a comprehensive review of the research of catatonia in people with neurodevelopmental disorders (like autism). It is an excellent and thorough treatment of the topic. Parts of it are quite technical, as it is written primarily for doctors, not for patients.
Here is a link to buy an excellent book about catatonia by psychologist Amitta Shah, called Catatonia, Breakdown, and Shutdown in Autism. This book is widely recommended, and many other articles and books cite this book, because it is very respected. Dr. Shah details many psychological and behavioral treatments of catatonia. A brief article by Dr. Shah on the same topic is available here, for free. The work of Dr. Shah is helpful for many reasons; one reason is that it talks about people with many different experiences of autism, and it discusses both young people and adults. Many people have found Dr. Shah's work to be transformative. Some people have also said that Dr. Shah's work is extremely helpful for people with mild or moderate catatonia but not as suited to people with severe catatonia, who might need more aggressive medical intervention.
Here is an episode of the podcast "Psychiatry and Psychology," which features Dr. Joshua Smith, a leader in the field of treating children with severe catatonia. It describes the features of catatonia in more detail. Dr. Smith talks about psychiatric treatments of catatonia, especially severe or advanced catatonia. His work is focused on helping children. Here is an article about the treatment of catatonia in children, which was written by a team of doctors at Vanderbilt in 2024, including Dr. Smith as first author. It details new medical advancements in the treatment of severe pediatric catatonia.
Here is an article from the Nashville Banner about how Dr. Smith helped one young person with autism, using ECT. While the article focuses on one autistic person and his family, it also discusses lots of other people and the statistics surrounding their treatment. Here is article from the National Council on Severe Autism, about how ECT helped another child and his family.
The use of ECT to help people with catatonia was pioneered earlier, by many people, especially Dr. Lee Wachtel. Here is a medical article by Dr. Wachtel about the treatment of catatonia (paywalled), which talks about when ECT might be most appropriate and when it might not be appropriate. It is extremely informative.
Here is a brief, accessible video, made for medical students, about general features of catatonia, using the mnemonic "LIMP MEN." It is helpful because it is short and memorable. It describes catatonia of all kinds, not just autistic catatonia.
Here is an open-access article detailing "evidence-based consensus guidelines" for the treatment of catatonia, by the British Association for Psychopharmacology, from 2023. The phrase "consensus guidelines" means that doctors have generally agreed on these guidelines as best for the treatment of catatonia. This document is extremely informative.
Here is a list of doctors currently known to treat autistic catatonia, compiled by the Catatonia Foundation. Another up-to-late list in progress is being compiled here.
Here is a series of videos produced by the University of Rochester Medical Center, that illustrates the common symptoms of catatonia. Once you understand these symptoms, you could fill out the Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale, if you like, in order to better communicate with your doctors. It's important to note that autism and catatonia have some very similar symptoms, so the doctor will have to assess your responses to the questionnaire in the context of your autism diagnosis and how your autism affects you, generally.
In general, the Catatonia Foundation has many excellent resources and much information about autistic catatonia. Their resources and information are generally geared to the parents and family of autistic people with catatonia. (The goal of this website is to provide information about catatonia for an audience of autistic people, themselves, and also to offer up-to-date resources for people of all kinds to learn about autistic catatonia.) The Catatonia Foundation also has lots of information about ECT, which can be very important in severe cases of catatonia. (One ultimate goal of this website is to offer a range of medical information for people who are experiencing milder or more moderate forms of catatonia as well as severe catatonia.)
Here is a series of YouTube videos, featuring Dr. Amy Lutz and Dr. Joshua Smith, about catatonia in autism. It comes widely recommended by parents.
There are also three short guides original to this website, available above, called "Basic Information," "How to Get Help," and "Getting Ready for the Hospital."