{"id":1414,"date":"2019-04-29T11:41:10","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T09:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/uncategorized\/ask-the-md-depression-and-anxiety-in-parkinsons-disease\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T08:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T06:39:14","slug":"ask-the-md-depression-and-anxiety-in-parkinsons-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/uncategorized\/ask-the-md-depression-and-anxiety-in-parkinsons-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the MD: Depression and anxiety in Parkinson\u2019s disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted by\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Rachel Dolhun, MD<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research<\/a> website<\/time><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"-<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Despression<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m Doctor Rachel Dolhun. I\u2019m movement disorder specialist and vice president of medical communications at The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson\u2019s research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I\u2019ll be talking about depression and anxiety in Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depression and anxiety are common non motor symptoms associated with Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can occur at any time in the course of disease even before the diagnosis is made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can also occur independently of one another, but commonly they go hand in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Symptoms of depression include decreased mood or energy, lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities, difficulty concentrating, slow thinking or even changes in weight, appetite or sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of the symptoms of depression can overlap with the symptoms of Parkinson\u2019s which can make it difficult to determine what\u2019s what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anxiety causes a lot of the same symptoms as depression but can also lead to uncontrollable worry or feelings of restlessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The levels of depression and anxiety in Parkinson\u2019s, typically stay fairly constant but anxiety in particular can fluctuate. Some people will have more significant or severe episodes of anxiety, and sometimes this can even happen in conjunction with medication like Levodopa when you\u2019re off at the end of a dose. If this is the case, symptoms will be somewhat alleviated with the next dose of your medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How are depression and anxiety treated?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depression and anxiety can be treated with medications, counselling, or a combination of both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to treat mood symptoms because they can decrease quality of life and make it more difficult to manage motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The medication that are used to treat depression and anxiety in Parkinson\u2019s are the same as those used to treat depression and anxiety in people who don\u2019t have Parkinson\u2019s. They work to regulate mood chemicals like serotonin, norepinephrine or dopamine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most commonly prescribed medications for depression and anxiety in Parkinson\u2019s are what is known as SSRIS or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples of these would be Paxil which is known as paroxetine, or Prozac which is otherwise called fluoxetine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whichever medication is chosen, is started at a low dose, and then worked up gradually and continued for several weeks to see if it gives benefits. If it doesn\u2019t work, another SSRIS may be chosen or doctors might prescribe from a completely different class of antidepressants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-depressants also work to treat anxiety but if a person has more significant episodes of anxiety or panic, they may be prescribed an as-needed-medication to take. This class of drugs is known as benzodiazepines and a common example would be Xanax or Alprazolam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to use these medications cautiously in Parkinson\u2019s disease as they could potentially worsen symptoms or cause side-effects like confusion, sleepiness or even imbalance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tips for managing depression and anxiety<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to talking with your doctor about treatment options, people who have depression or anxiety could benefit from exercising regularly, staying socially active to avoid isolation, and talking through symptoms with a loved one or a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think your loved one might have depression or anxiety, you can help them by learning to recognize the signs and symptoms of these mood disturbances, by suggesting activities that you can do together so that they don\u2019t isolate themselves, and also by offering support and listening as they talk through their symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can learn more about this and other topics in Parkinson\u2019s by visiting our website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source:\u00a0https:\/\/www.michaeljfox.org\/foundation\/news-detail.php?ask-the-md-depression-and-anxiety-in-parkinson-disease<\/a><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doctor Rachel Dolhun is movement disorder specialist and vice president of medical communications at the MJFF. In this video, she talks about depression and anxiety in Parkinson\u2019s disease. How are depression and anxiety treated? What are the tips to manage depression and anxiety?<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1416,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414\/revisions\/1416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}