Mental health and Parkinson's
Every Parkinson’s journey looks different, but for many, mental health symptoms can be a challenge. This World Mental Health Day, we explore why people with Parkinson’s experience these symptoms.
What mental health symptoms do people with Parkinson’s experience?
Mental health has a huge effect on overall wellbeing. It affects how we think, feel and act, and enables us to cope well with life’s challenges. Nearly half of people with Parkinson's have experienced these issues. Yet many people with Parkinson’s think they’re alone when they experience difficulties with their mental health.
Anxiety is a feeling of worry, fear or dread. It can have physical effects on the body, such as sweating, breathlessness, and feeling our heart beat faster. Anxiety is a normal response to feelings of stress. However, if these feelings are ongoing and severe, they may start to impact everyday life. Up to 4 in 10 people with Parkinson’s experience significant symptoms of anxiety.
Depression involves feeling intense sadness or emptiness for long periods of time. As well as a low mood, people may feel unmotivated, hopeless and have trouble sleeping. This can affect someone’s ability to carry out day-to-day activities, which can be especially difficult for people with Parkinson’s who may already find certain tasks challenging. As many as 3 in 10 people with Parkinson's will experience depression.
Apathy is not unusual for people with Parkinson’s to experience, such as a disinterest in activities or lack of feeling or emotion. Many people with Parkinson’s experience apathy with depression, but it can also be experienced by itself.
Shafaq, who has Parkinson’s, shares her experience of apathy after being diagnosed: “I had a lack of desire to do anything. I’d been a social butterfly. I was very outgoing. Now I didn’t want to go out at all. These feelings were totally alien to me”.
Why do people with Parkinson’s experience these symptoms?
Chemicals in the brain
In Parkinson’s, brain cells that produce dopamine die over time and cannot be replaced. This leads to less dopamine, a critical chemical involved in controlling mood, motivation and reward. Conditions such as anxiety and depression are associated with changing levels of chemicals in the brain, referred to as neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. These chemicals affect mood, motivation, sleep, memory, and support our overall wellbeing.
Dealing with a diagnosis
Being diagnosed with Parkinson’s can be a stressful and unsettling experience, and coming to terms with the diagnosis can trigger feelings of anxiety. In a survey of 800 people we carried out in 2021, people diagnosed within the last 2 years told us that problems with mental health and wellbeing were the second most important priority for research, after uncontrollable movements or tremor.
Feeling out of control
There are over 40 symptoms of Parkinson’s and they can change over the course of the condition. Symptoms tend to fluctuate during the day and can be difficult to predict.
Coping with symptoms
Research has shown that depression is more common in advanced Parkinson’s, which may suggest that it’s linked to coping with more severe symptoms. It might become harder to take part in certain activities, such as socialising or working. This can lead to feelings of isolation or a loss of independence that can increase someone’s risk of depression.
But depression can be an issue for people with young onset Parkinson’s too. Snehal, who was diagnosed at 36, shares her perspective on how she feels being a younger person with Parkinson’s:
“You are a young person trapped in a body that is slowly degenerating. But you are still expected to do ALL the things that a ‘normal’ adult is supposed to- be gainfully employed, raise a family and socialise.”
What research is taking place to better understand and improve mental health symptoms in Parkinson’s?
Mental health symptoms of Parkinson’s, while common, have previously been overlooked and understudied. Research is now underway find better ways for people with Parkinson’s to manage, monitor and improve their mental health. Here are three studies we have funded that are looking at tackling these issues.
Understanding anxiety
Based at University College London, the AND-PD (Anxiety and Parkinson’s Disease) project aims to better understand anxiety in Parkinson’s. In 2024, the group published results showing that anxiety may actually increase the risk of someone developing Parkinson’s.
Led by Professor Anette Schrag, the team compared data of people who had developed anxiety over the age of 50 with those who hadn’t. They looked for symptoms of Parkinson’s in each group to understand how at risk each group was of developing Parkinson’s. The results showed that the risk of developing Parkinson’s was doubled in the group with anxiety. This points towards anxiety being a very early sign of the condition, which may tell us more about the early stages of Parkinson’s. However, more research is needed to explore this further.
Developing a self-help therapy
In 2021 we awarded funding to Dr Angeliki Bogosian at City St George’s, University of London, worked in collaboration with 14 people in the Parkinson’s community, to created the Parkinson’s Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (PACT) programme.
PACT is an app-based programme aiming to help people with Parkinson’s manage stress, navigate difficult emotions, and improve quality of life. It involves taking part in short ‘bitesized’ sessions throughout the day, via video, audio or text. Once developed, the researchers ran a trial with 57 people with Parkinson’s to test the app.
After using the app for 4 weeks, people with Parkinson’s showed less symptoms of depression. People found it really useful in terms of identifying a sense of meaning and developing a more positive mindset.
- Dr Angeliki Bogosian
The PACT app is available and free to use. You can find out more about the PACT app at pact-app.com and read feedback from members of the Parkinson’s community on our Tech Guide at parkinsons.org.uk/techguidepact
Improving mental health support
Currently, there aren’t enough people who are qualified to deliver specialist mental health support for people with Parkinson’s, and those who care for and support them. We’re funding Dr Jennifer Foley and her team at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology to developing a treatment programme for mental health issues in Parkinson’s that can be easily delivered by non-experts.
Their work is bringing Parkinson’s mental health specialists and people affected by Parkinson’s together to design group-based therapies. The programme will be summarised in a series of booklets and cover topics such as adjusting to diagnosis, using cognitive-behavioural therapy to improve mood, and advice for couples and families on how to manage memory and thinking problems.
Looking forward
From understanding what’s happening in the brain to cause mental health symptoms, to finding new solutions to help improve mood, mental health and Parkinson’s is becoming an active area of research
Raising awareness and understanding whether mental health symptoms could be an early sign of Parkinson’s may pave the way for better diagnostics, support and overall care for people with Parkinson’s.
Find out what information and support by calling our helpline on 0808 800 0303.
Read Progress, our research magazine
This article features in Progress Summer 2025. Progress is our research magazine, co-designed with a group of 10 people affected by Parkinson's with the latest research news topics and information to help you delve deeper into research. Read the full magazine online.