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Dear Dr. Chew, Thank you so much for your eloquent reply. That you spend so much of your clinic time on psychiatric disorders is striking, Your booklet sounds great. I hope you will consider making it available on the internet so we all can see it! It is interesting that psychiatric disorders are stigmatized in Malaysia as they are here in the U.S. Is there anywhere in the world that this prejudice does not exist, I wonder? Perhaps the Scandinavian countries? Kathleen 2009/8/15 chew nee kong <[log in to unmask]> > Dear Kathleen > > The truth is, PD is nowadays known as a neuropsychiatric disorder, and not > just a movement disorder. Over the recent years, even I myself have found > that I have "moved away" from the motor aspect of PD. Nowadays, I spend 70% > of my clinic time on the non-motor side of PD, especially the psychiatric > disorders. > > We are publishing a booklet to highlight the strong relationship between > motor symptoms of PD and psychiatric disorders. The title is "Two Sides of > the Same Brain - psychiatric disorders and Parkinson's". > > There is certainly a certain degree of prejudice and stigma associated with > this term "neuropsychiatric disorder". Many Parkinson's patients get > offended when I tell them that they have depression (for some people, > admitting that one has depression is perceived as a sign of weakness). Even > the idea of waiting outside a psychiatry clinic can cause someone to be > upset (due to the social stigma of psychiatric disorders). > > We have to be extremely careful with the words that we use, as it is a > sensitive issue. I choose my words depending on the situation. If I can see > that a patient is rather sensitive, I try to use simple terms, such as "an > illness that affects the body, mind and soul" or "an illness that affects > body movement and emotion". > > For some patients who are more receptive and well-informed about > Parkinson's, I do explain to them that the psychiatric disorders are part of > the Parkinson's itself - the slowness of movement and depression are caused > by lack of dopamine in the brain. > > In the end, I feel that whatever terms that we use to describe this > illness, what matters the most is that we should give patients an optimistic > impression, and tell them that both the motor and non-motor symptoms are > treatable. > > Dr Chew > > > > > > > > > Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:16:18 -0400 > > From: [log in to unmask] > > Subject: a thought > > To: [log in to unmask] > > > > A thought spurred by seeing how the ball on ECT/PD fell between the > > psychiatrists and the neurologists: > > > > The longer I live with PD, the more I think that to term it a "movement > > disorder" is limiting and misleading. PD affects everything, including > > cognition and mood. The sooner we all admit that, the sooner we can break > > out of the box our fragmented, competitive system of health care and > medical > > specialties has put us in. > > > > Kathleen > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto: > [log in to unmask] > > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > > _________________________________________________________________ > Share your memories online with anyone you want. > > http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/windows/windowslive/products/photos-share.aspx?tab=1 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto: > [log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn