Parkinson's Impulse Disorders May Be Drug-Related

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Parkinson's Disease Also Included In: Neurology / Neuroscience;Psychology / Psychiatry Article Date: 09 Jan 2013 - 12:00 PST

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The researchers, from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in the US, write about their findings in the 8 January issue of the journal Neurology.

Although it does not prove it, the study adds weight to the idea that dopamine-targeting drugs cause Parkinson's patients' to experience problems with impulse control.

Lead author Daniel Weintraub, associate professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Perelman, says in a statement released on Monday:

"When looking at newly diagnosed Parkinson's patients who had yet to be treated with drugs targeting the dopamine system, we saw no difference in impulsivity than what we found in healthy people without the disease."

Impulse control disorders are more serious than occasionally not being able to resist that last piece of cake, or sometimes breaking a resolution not to buy any more shoes this year.

The inability to control impulses becomes a disorder when the consequences cause harm to self or others. Examples include but are not limited to, addictions to gambling, sex, spending, eating, and explosive attacks of rage.

People with impulse control disorders may or may not plan the impulsive actions, which usually satisfy short term wishes. But on the whole, most people with the condition feel they are losing control of their lives and find their disorders highly distressing.

Previous studies have pointed to evidence of a link between drugs that target dopamine centers in the brain (dopamine agonist therapies) and impulse control disorders. Dopamine agonists work by increasing brain levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers.

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Parkinson's Impulse Disorders May Be Drug-Related