Apr 24, 2018
Among the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, cognitive and behavioral challenges also can be troubling and disabling. Medication, surgery, and other therapies can help alleviate motor symptoms, but the treatment of mental changes lags behind. Addressing cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and other neuropsychiatric issues may be daunting both for physicians and for the people with Parkinson’s whom they treat. Through a Parkinson’s Foundation grant, Dr. Jennifer Goldman has set up an Integrated Cognitive Behavioral Movement Disorder Program at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence. Its mission is to support people with PD and their care partners who need to treat and cope with non-motor as well as motor symptoms of the disease. She discusses some of the care challenges and offers advice for ways to address them.