Parkinson's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Parkinson's Disease, including details on symptoms, treatment, genetics, medication.

Patterns of psychological problems in Parkinson's disease.

Macht M, Schwarz R, Ellgring H

Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany. macht@psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.de

OBJECTIVE: To identify patterns of psychological problems in Parkinson's disease (PD). METHOD: A sample of 3075 patients was surveyed to determine frequencies of psychological problems and cross-validated cluster analyses were computed to identify patterns of these problems. RESULTS: An increase of symptoms during arousal was reported by 68%, sleep disturbances by 32% of the sample, and sexual problems by 57% of men and 22% of women. Less frequently reported were difficulties in communicating (27%), needing help of others (38%), and depressive moods (20%). Four patterns of psychological problems were identified: general low stress, general high stress, sexual and social problems, and non-social problems. CONCLUSION: The study confirms the clinical observation that PD patients differ not only in degree, but also in structure of psychological stress. Social and non-social stress constitute principal types of stress experienced in PD. This distinction should be taken into account for any approach to support people with PD.

Published 12 January 2005 in Acta Neurol Scand, 111(2): 95-101.
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