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Catamnesis is the follow-up history of a patient after they are discharged from treatment or a hospital. The history of a patient after the onset of a medical or psychiatric illness. [1] The medical history of a patient following an illness; the follow-up history.[2] The medical history of a patient from the onset of an illness. [3] The follow-up history of a patient after they are discharged from treatment or a hospital. [4]

Catamnesis is a summary of all information about a patient obtained on a single or several occasions after the end of his initial period under observation. A catamnesis is prepared after a patient’s discharge from a hospital or after their last examination or treatment. The physician obtains data concerning the patient from a variety of sources: the results of a medical examination, excerpts from the case history, the patient’s answers to questions, and information imparted by the patient’s relatives and persons who know them well. A catamnesis is very important in all branches of medicine, especially in psychiatry. Certain mental disorders have been identified as independent diseases with the help of the catamnesis, such as schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis. The catamnesis is helpful in following the progress of psychiatric patients after various methods of treatment and in tracing the history of persons who have had mental diseases in childhood.[5]


  1. ^ Dorland's Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers. Saunders; 2007.
  2. ^ Medical Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company; 2007.
  3. ^ Mosby's Medical Dictionary (8th edition). Elsevier; 2009.
  4. ^ Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary (3 ed). Elsevier; 2007.
  5. ^ The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd Edition 1970-1979). The Gale Group; 2010.

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