What Causes Depression?

Depression should be considered a symptom of PD caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. As with tremor or any other motor symptom of PD, medications are available to correct these imbalances and improve the symptoms of depression.

Psychological factors

• It is understandable that living with PD could lead to sadness, helplessness, and hopelessness about the future. These feelings may be due to the chronic course of the illness and the way it affects patients’ lives.
• Another factor that may lead to depression is the isolation that can occur when patients avoid being in public so other people won’t notice their PD symptoms.

Biological Factors

• Research studies have showed that many patients suffer from depression or anxiety 2-5 years before the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, which means depression, may not simply be a psychological reaction to having the illness, but a part of PD.
• In addition, research studies have shown that regions of the brain affected by PD are the same as those affected by patients with depression without PD.
• There are changes in brain chemicals (dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine) in both PD and depression.

Medical content reviewed by: Nina Browner, MD—Medical Director of the NPF Center of Excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in North Carolina and by Fernando Pagan, MD—Medical Director of the NPF Center of Excellence at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

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