ABSTRACT
Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects over 1 million individuals in the United States and Canada (1). It is considered a movement disorder based on the motor symptoms that herald its onset and dominate its early course. These motor symptoms are typically what bring patients to the doctor and are the target of most modern medical and surgical therapies. According to recent surveys that examined quality of life issues in PD, depression and other psychiatric symptoms have a higher impact on quality of life than the motor symptoms (2,3). Similarly, as the disease advances, it is the psychiatric symptoms, especially drug-induced hallucinations and delusions, that most contribute to the risk of nursing home placement (4).
