Not everyone with Parkinson’s will experience psychosis or hallucinations, but when they do occur, they can be confusing, distressing, or even frightening for both the person with Parkinson’s and their loved ones. In this open conversation, Dr. Sneha Mantri and a guest expert invite you to bring your questions about what these experiences mean, why they happen, how to recognize them, and how to respond with compassion and calm.
Your questions will guide the discussion as our experts share clear, trustworthy insights and practical strategies to support safety, understanding, and emotional well-being.
Bring your curiosity—and your coffee (or tea!)—for a conversation about one of Parkinson’s most sensitive topics.
Speakers
Sneha Mantri, MD, MS Neurologist, Duke University Chief Medical Officer, Parkinson's Foundation
Ruth Schneider, MD Neurologist, Associate Professor at University of Rochester Medical, A Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends, and the community.
Experts will share practical strategies and safety precautions to improve safety and minimize fall risk to support balance and mobility in everyday life.
Georgia Chapter Ambassador Retreat | July 31–August 1, Atlanta, GA. Join fellow Parkinson’s Foundation ambassadors for a weekend of connection, learning, collaboration, and planning as we celebrate our impact and prepare for the year ahead.
We’ll explore how to notice habitual thinking patterns—especially those tied to worry, self-criticism, or uncertainty about Parkinson’s—and learn to release what no longer serves us.
Live Fitness Friday - Breathe and Energize: Yoga for Mind-Body Connection
Join us for a live fitness class, offered once a month.
This session emphasizes mindful breathing and gentle, fluid movements designed to support mobility, balance, and relaxation for those living with Parkinson’s. Seated and standing poses, combined with intentional breathwork, help reduce stress, enhance circulation, and promote a greater sense of connection between mind and body. By focusing on controlled movement and breath awareness, this practice can help ease stiffness, improve posture, and foster overall well-being—leaving you feeling more energized and centered.
Instructor
Annela Villena Flores, MT-BC Co-Owner, Union Yoga
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends, and the community.
Experts will share practical strategies and safety precautions to improve safety and minimize fall risk to support balance and mobility in everyday life.
Georgia Chapter Ambassador Retreat | July 31–August 1, Atlanta, GA. Join fellow Parkinson’s Foundation ambassadors for a weekend of connection, learning, collaboration, and planning as we celebrate our impact and prepare for the year ahead.
We’ll explore how to notice habitual thinking patterns—especially those tied to worry, self-criticism, or uncertainty about Parkinson’s—and learn to release what no longer serves us.
When our lives become hectic, it is easy to miss the beauty and wonder of simple, ordinary moments of our lives. During this session we will have an opportunity to pause and embrace those ordinary moments with curiosity and an open heart.
Speaker
Barbara Leffler, PhD, RN Retired Clinical Psychologist and Registered Nurse Care Partner to her husband living with Parkinson's Parkinson’s Foundation Hospital Lead Ambassador
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends, and the community.
Experts will share practical strategies and safety precautions to improve safety and minimize fall risk to support balance and mobility in everyday life.
Georgia Chapter Ambassador Retreat | July 31–August 1, Atlanta, GA. Join fellow Parkinson’s Foundation ambassadors for a weekend of connection, learning, collaboration, and planning as we celebrate our impact and prepare for the year ahead.
We’ll explore how to notice habitual thinking patterns—especially those tied to worry, self-criticism, or uncertainty about Parkinson’s—and learn to release what no longer serves us.
We all think. Mindfulness won’t stop our thoughts, but it can change our relationship to them. In this session, we’ll explore how to notice habitual thinking patterns—especially those tied to worry, self-criticism, or uncertainty about Parkinson’s—and learn to release what no longer serves us. A guided meditation will help cultivate calm focus and clarity.
Speaker
Devon Hase Author & Meditation Teacher
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends, and the community.
Experts will share practical strategies and safety precautions to improve safety and minimize fall risk to support balance and mobility in everyday life.
Georgia Chapter Ambassador Retreat | July 31–August 1, Atlanta, GA. Join fellow Parkinson’s Foundation ambassadors for a weekend of connection, learning, collaboration, and planning as we celebrate our impact and prepare for the year ahead.
We’ll explore how to notice habitual thinking patterns—especially those tied to worry, self-criticism, or uncertainty about Parkinson’s—and learn to release what no longer serves us.
A medida que la enfermedad de Parkinson progresa, las personas pueden experimentar cambios que van más allá del movimiento, incluidos síntomas no motores como cambios en el pensamiento, el estado de ánimo y los delirios. Este webinar explorará estos síntomas, con especial atención a las alucinaciones, e incluirá consejos sobre cómo responder con empatía cuando alguien que usted conoce o cuida experimenta una alucinación. El programa también abordará conceptos erróneos sobre las alucinaciones y cuándo es conveniente hablar sobre las opciones de tratamiento con un proveedor de atención médica.
La conversación también analizará cómo la cultura, la familia y la comunidad influyen en la forma en que se comprenden y manejan estos síntomas, con el fin de ayudar a los participantes a sentirse mejor preparados para apoyarse a sí mismos o a un ser querido.
10 a.m. hora del Pacífico (Los Ángeles) 11 a.m. hora de la Montaña (Colorado, Phoenix y Nuevo México) 12 p.m. hora del Centro (Texas y Ciudad de México) 1 p.m. hora del Este (Nueva York , Peru y Colombia) 2 p.m. hora de Venezuela 3 p.m. hora de Chile y Argentina 7 p.m. hora de España
*Por favor, verifica su zonas horarias.*
Presentadora
Beatriz Elena Muñoz Ospina, PhD Neuropsicóloga Fundación Valle del Lili
Experts will share practical strategies and safety precautions to improve safety and minimize fall risk to support balance and mobility in everyday life.
Georgia Chapter Ambassador Retreat | July 31–August 1, Atlanta, GA. Join fellow Parkinson’s Foundation ambassadors for a weekend of connection, learning, collaboration, and planning as we celebrate our impact and prepare for the year ahead.
We’ll explore how to notice habitual thinking patterns—especially those tied to worry, self-criticism, or uncertainty about Parkinson’s—and learn to release what no longer serves us.
Artificial Intelligence is Unlocking New Possibilities for Parkinson’s Care
🧠 What will you learn in this article?
This article is based on a Parkinson’s Foundation Expert Briefing about how Parkinson’s disease (PD) care and research are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) technology. It highlights how:
AI is becoming a useful support tool in PD care, helping with tasks like documenting visits and tracking symptoms.
People with Parkinson’s can use AI tools to better understand symptoms, medications and next steps after appointments, though it’s important to protect privacy.
To maximize your PD-related AI conversations.
Apps, wearables and symptom-tracking tools combined with AI may help personalize care.
Researchers are using AI to accelerate Parkinson’s discoveries.
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is shaping how healthcare information is shared and used, including for people living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Discover the value of AI tools, how to engage with them responsibly and why your care team’s guidance and judgment remain essential to high-quality care.
This article is based on a Parkinson’s Foundation Expert Briefing hosted by movement disorders specialist and clinical informaticist Allan D. Wu, MD, at Northwestern Medicine Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence.
Making Thoughtful Use of Smart Technology
Artificial intelligence has rapidly cemented itself as a supportive tool to enhance human expertise and provide people with around-the-clock access to healthcare information. However, people are wary that AI may weaken relationships between doctors and patients or chatbots may provide inaccurate answers. A 2025 YouGov poll found more than half of Americans were cautious or skeptical of AI, even as a 2025 Gallup poll found 99% of U.S. adults used an AI-enabled product weekly and 57% used generative AI for personal purposes.
Healthcare experts remain cautious, too. Lessons from the nationwide rollout of electronic health records (EHR) showed that new technology can create added burdens. Many EHR systems didn’t work well together, focused heavily on paperwork and billing and increased demands and burnout for doctors without improving patient care.
The rapidly expanding field of clinical informatics emphasizes using AI to enhance and support — not replace — human care. Physicians certified in this field use their expertise in medicine and technology to help improve healthcare systems and patient care, serving as a connection between technology and patient care.
About AI
AI includes rule-based systems, statistical models, machine learning and deep learning, which are used in healthcare for documentation, pattern detection and prediction.
AI tools in healthcare can document visits, draft records for physician review, identify patient risks, support research or help manage patient communications. People have the right to ask where their health data is going and how it will be handled, or to opt out of AI-powered recording and documentation of healthcare visits.
AI processes and applies information in different ways:
Ambient AI, with patient consent, can capture patient-doctor conversations, freeing doctors to focus on face-to-face interactions.
Generative AI can transcribe medical conversations into visit records for the doctor to review and approve.
Predictive AI commonly uses machine learning models to look at large data volumes to spot patterns and predict outcomes. In healthcare, it might be used to help identify a patient’s potential health risks. In research, it is being used for everything from drug development to the analysis of genetic data.
How People Are Using AI as a Healthcare Partner
Many people are familiar with AI chat platforms and assistants – these use large language models trained on massive amounts of written and spoken data to simulate human conversation. They are trained to learn from interactions to deliver accurate, personalized responses.
People can leverage AI tools to:
Explain PD symptoms, diagnoses or medications. For example, Ask PAM (Parkinson’s Assistance Messenger) is an AI-powered chat tool from the Parkinson’s Foundation that provides trusted, evidence-based answers about Parkinson’s at your fingertips.
Understand medical bills or insurance benefits.
Organize next steps after a healthcare visit.
While AI can be helpful, use caution when using it:
Protect your privacy. Never provide sensitive information.
AI can sometimes reinforce incorrect ideas.
AI does not understand accountability or moral responsibility.
AI can present false information as fact. It can also present biased information.
Be wary of “AI slop” low-quality content generated without human effort.
How to Maximize Your PD-related AI Conversations
Get the most reliable information when working with AI:
State the goal. “Help me prepare for my doctor appointment.”
Provide background: “I was diagnosed 6 years ago. I have tremor dominant Parkinson’s. I am taking carbidopa/levodopa. My tremor has worsened over time.”
Explain how you want the message delivered: “Give me a short, bulleted list in plain language.”
Ask for broad perspectives. “You are a Parkinson’s expert.” Or “What perspective and questions might my neurologist, physical therapist, social worker, psychologist or family members have?”
Ask for pros and cons, alternatives and multiple options.
Save your work. AI conversations are often temporary.
Sometimes, AI will ask questions for more context. This is best used when you aren’t sure what information you need. “I need to talk to my neurologist about deep brain stimulation. Before you respond, ask me questions you need to give me useful guidance.”
Other ways to guide output are to ask AI to at a sixth-grade level or to be concise. Ask it to review its response and where the answer could be improved.
The Potential for AI in PD Care
People living with Parkinson's may find it difficult to accurately remember when symptoms occurred or how they changed over time. Symptom-tracking tools and wearables — including smartphone apps, Apple Watch-based tools and devices such as Personal KinetiGraph and StrivePD — are helping monitor symptoms over time. Other wearable technologies include devices that monitor cognition, tremor, freezing of gait, sleep and speech.
AI holds the promise to combine data from these devices with pre-visit surveys, Parkinson’s disease rating scales and patient diaries to help care teams develop personalized wellness plans that adapt as symptoms and needs change, and to assist in connecting people with relevant clinical trials.
Tech Tools for Daily Living
Explore apps and digital tools that can help you track symptoms and support daily life with Parkinson’s.
Researchers are using AI to expand their understanding of Parkinson’s:
Bioinformatics, the use of AI to assist in analyzing biological information, is being harnessed in trials such as PD GENEration: Powered by the Parkinson’s Foundation,an international study offering genetic testing and counseling for people living with Parkinson’s at no cost.
AI and machine learning are helping process and interpret data from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI), a Michael J. Fox Foundation-sponsored study to identify and measure PD biomarkers — substances in the body that provide information about health.
Artificial intelligence is helping researchers discover biologic subtypes of Parkinson's by examining data from skin biopsies, genetic statistics and brain imaging.
Alpha-synuclein is a brain chemical that misfolds and clumps in people with Parkinson’s. AI is helping researchers better understand the process and how it is linked to disease progression.
AI has the potential to help speed up new drug discoveries by identifying which compounds might target PD.
Emerging Developments
On the horizon, look for AI tools that:
Offer continuous passive monitoring of PD symptom patterns such as voice, gait and typing.
Reach out when a wearable device signals a change.
Send adaptive medication reminders based on patterns of “on” times, when PD medication is working well, and “off” times, when symptoms return.
Provide AI symptom triage, assessing symptoms and suggesting next steps.
Automate creation of healthcare action items, referrals and automatic scheduling.
AI, along with PD GENEration and other research studies, is also laying the groundwork for precision medicine — the aim of tailoring treatment to fit the needs of everyone with Parkinson’s. It also holds the potential to further refine surgical planning and programming for DBS devices used to treat Parkinson’s symptoms.
Learn More
Explore our Ask PAM User Guideto learn more about the Parkinson’s Foundation AI-powered chat tool. PAM can answer your PD questions anytime, in English or Spanish.
Perspectivas profesionales: enfermedad de Parkinson de inicio temprano
🧠 ¿Qué aprenderá en este artículo?
Este artículo presenta un video con el Dr. Ignacio Mata, un neurogenetista, quien explica la enfermedad de Parkinson de inicio temprano (EOPD, por sus siglas en inglés). En él, destaca:
La serie única de desafíos que enfrentan las personas con EOPD.
Cómo afrontar un diagnóstico en una etapa temprana de la vida.
Recursos para ayudar a controlar los síntomas a medida que la enfermedad avanza.
La enfermedad de Parkinson de inicio temprano (EOPD) afecta a personas menores de 50 años de edad. Si bien los síntomas son similares a los de la enfermedad de Parkinson típica o de inicio tardío (EP), las personas diagnosticadas con la EOPD a menudo enfrentan un conjunto único de desafíos financieros, familiares y laborales.
Acompañe al Dr. Ignacio Mata, un neurogenetista de la Cleveland Clinic, un Centro de Excelencia de la Parkinson’s Foundation, quien comparte por qué las personas con síntomas de la EOPD pueden tener dificultades para recibir un diagnóstico, consejos para afrontar la EOPD y dónde buscar recursos y apoyo.
¿Por qué es importante identificar la enfermedad de Parkinson de inicio temprano?
La EOPD afecta aproximadamente al 4% de las 90,000 personas diagnosticadas con la EP cada año en los EE. UU. Las investigaciones muestran que las personas diagnosticadas con la EP a una edad más temprana tienen más probabilidades de tener un vínculo genético con la EP. Aproximadamente el 30% de las personas con la EOPD tienen un vínculo genético, en comparación con aproximadamente el 12% de aquellas con la EP típica o de inicio tardío.
Su equipo de atención puede recomendar pruebas genéticas para comprender mejor su diagnóstico. Identificar la EOPD y un vínculo genético puede ayudar a su equipo médico a personalizar mejor los planes de tratamiento, incluidas las estrategias para controlar los síntomas que toman en cuenta las responsabilidades laborales, de crianza y familiares.
Las personas con la EP pueden considerar participar en nuestro estudio genético, PD GENEration: Impulsado por la Parkinson’s Foundation, que ofrece pruebas genéticas y consejería sin costo para las personas que viven con Parkinson.
Each month, Dr. Rush invites you to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with yourself and your Parkinson’s community through a guided mindfulness practice. Together, we’ll explore simple ways to ground the body, calm the mind, and cultivate compassion and clarity that you can carry into your week.
Whether you’re new to mindfulness or a returning participant, these sessions are designed to be inclusive, supportive, and accessible for everyone. Find a comfortable place to sit, settle in, and experience how mindfulness can bring steadiness and space, even in the midst of change.
A brief time for questions and reflections will follow each practice.
Speaker
Taylor Rush, PhD Health Psychologist, Director of Behavioral Services and Interdisciplinary Programs, Center for Neurological Restoration, Cleveland Clinic
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends, and the community.
Experts will share practical strategies and safety precautions to improve safety and minimize fall risk to support balance and mobility in everyday life.
Georgia Chapter Ambassador Retreat | July 31–August 1, Atlanta, GA. Join fellow Parkinson’s Foundation ambassadors for a weekend of connection, learning, collaboration, and planning as we celebrate our impact and prepare for the year ahead.
We’ll explore how to notice habitual thinking patterns—especially those tied to worry, self-criticism, or uncertainty about Parkinson’s—and learn to release what no longer serves us.
Each month, Dr. Rush invites you to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with yourself and your Parkinson’s community through a guided mindfulness practice. Together, we’ll explore simple ways to ground the body, calm the mind, and cultivate compassion and clarity that you can carry into your week.
Whether you’re new to mindfulness or a returning participant, these sessions are designed to be inclusive, supportive, and accessible for everyone. Find a comfortable place to sit, settle in, and experience how mindfulness can bring steadiness and space, even in the midst of change.
A brief time for questions and reflections will follow each practice.
Speaker
Taylor Rush, PhD Health Psychologist, Director of Behavioral Services and Interdisciplinary Programs, Center for Neurological Restoration, Cleveland Clinic
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends, and the community.
Experts will share practical strategies and safety precautions to improve safety and minimize fall risk to support balance and mobility in everyday life.
Georgia Chapter Ambassador Retreat | July 31–August 1, Atlanta, GA. Join fellow Parkinson’s Foundation ambassadors for a weekend of connection, learning, collaboration, and planning as we celebrate our impact and prepare for the year ahead.
We’ll explore how to notice habitual thinking patterns—especially those tied to worry, self-criticism, or uncertainty about Parkinson’s—and learn to release what no longer serves us.
When our minds take us to non-resilient places (such as when we jump to conclusions, or let our emotions cloud our judgment), it helps to have a go-to move to bring them back to a calmer place.
In this session, we will learn how to notice common difficult habits of the mind, to pause, and then to mindfully return to a better place. As we do so, we give ourselves the best chance of choosing a better next step.
Speaker
Maria Sirois, PsyD Psychologist, Consultant, Inspirational Speaker Certificate in Appreciative Inquiry, Stiller School of Business
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends, and the community.
Experts will share practical strategies and safety precautions to improve safety and minimize fall risk to support balance and mobility in everyday life.
Georgia Chapter Ambassador Retreat | July 31–August 1, Atlanta, GA. Join fellow Parkinson’s Foundation ambassadors for a weekend of connection, learning, collaboration, and planning as we celebrate our impact and prepare for the year ahead.
We’ll explore how to notice habitual thinking patterns—especially those tied to worry, self-criticism, or uncertainty about Parkinson’s—and learn to release what no longer serves us.
