Roberta Nelson's January 27 message asking about personality changes
that may be wrought in PD patients in addition to depression has haunted me
now for a long time because somewhere along the line in my own research on
PD, I had read about psychopathology in PD patients. Well, I can't seem to
put my hands on that; however, I do want to pass along info from two sources
on this subject.
First, Jankovic & Marsden (1993) have stated that "many PD patients
experience a variety of psychiatric reactions, particularly agitation, visual
hallucinations, psychosis, paranoia, and hypersexuality."
Second, the 3rd quarter 1995 Parkinson Report from NPF had an article
about anxiety and PD, which stated "People with PD can suffer from a number
of emotional and behavioral disorders. Recent evidence suggests that anxiety
is another important behavioral condition which can afflict up to 40% of
people with PD. The most commonly described anxiety disorders in PD are
panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia and obsessive-
compulsive disorder. Anxiety may not merely represent psychological
difficulties adapting to the illness, but rather is linked to specific
neurobiological processes occurring in PD." The conclusion was that the
anxiety of PD sufferers probably reflects some underlying changes in brain
chemistry.
It would seem likely that personality changes could result whenever
you have changes in brain chemistry.
It also seems likely that you can suffer from depression prior to
PD, with the depression exacerbated by the PD, as Michel Margolis on Jan. 27
inquired about, although I haven't read the articles pertinent to this yet.
Does anyone else know anything about this?
Marti Eiermann
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