Psychotic Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease

Psychosis is generally defined as a mental condition where there is a significant derangement in the perception of reality. Specific features of psychosis include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech (related to disorganized thinking) and bizarre behavior (based on the disorganized thinking). In Parkinson’s disease the most common source of psychotic symptoms is related to treatment with the dopaminergic medications (LDopa and the dopamine agonists) used to improve the motor aspects of PD, especially in the setting of any level of dementia. Other risk factors for psychotic symptoms include the concomitant use of anticholinergic drugs, long disease duration, long duration of treatment for PD, sleep disturbances and total amount of medications used for PD treatment.