7th Jan 2010.

Two Sides of the Same Brain

The two different faces of Parkinson’s were officially revealed in a media conference today. For the journalists, it must have been a unique experience that they went through for the very first time in their lives.

This media workshop, which was held at PJ Hilton Hotel, was remarkable in many ways. For the very first time in Malaysia, a special event was organized with the specific aim of highlighting the psychiatric disorders in Parkinson’s. During this event, “Two Sides of The Same Brain – Psychiatric disorders and Parkinson’s” was launched - the very first locally published book that focused on psychiatric disorders in Parkinson’s. 

The theme of the workshop was similar to the title of the book: “Two Sides of The Same Brain – Psychiatric disorders and Parkinson’s”. This event was jointly organized by Lloyd Tan Parkinson’s Trust Fund, Malaysian Psychiatric Association and Negeri Sembilan Parkinson’s Society.  

“The main objective of the media workshop is to educate the general public on the common occurrence and significant impact of psychiatric disorders in Parkinson’s,” said Ms. Gharizah Hashim, the president of Negeri Sembilan Parkinson’s Society during her opening speech. 

“This media workshop is particularly relevant in view of the fact that about half of the time, psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety disorder are not diagnosed by neurologists (brain specialists),” said Dr. Chew Nee Kong, a consultant neurologist and Parkinson’s specialist, during his lecture which was entitled “Two Sides of The Same Brain”.

“Parkinson’s has been traditionally known as a movement disorder. As such, many people, including doctors, are often preoccupied with the movement symptoms such as slowness of movement and tremor, to the extent that they overlook the psychiatric disorders associated with Parkinson’s. The presence of these psychiatric disorders significantly impairs the quality of life of Parkinson’s patients. Thus, we need to reveal the two “faces” of Parkinson’s, in order to provide a comprehensive Parkinson’s care. This is also the same reason why Dr. Yen Teck Hoe is our “star speaker” today,” added Dr. Chew.

Dr. Yen Teck Hoe is a consultant psychiatrist and the president of Malaysian Psychiatric Association. According to Dr. Yen, there is a long list of psychiatric disorders in Parkinson’s, such as depression, anxiety, hallucination, dementia, etc. In his lecture, which was entitled “Managing psychiatric disorders in Parkinson’s”, he said, “All these psychiatric disorders need to be recognized as specific treatments are available for these disorders. Parkinson’s patients do not need to suffer if these psychiatric disorders are treated.”

The mind explorer – Dr. Yen presenting his lecture which was entitled “Managing psychiatric disorders in Parkinson’s”. He was passionate about psychiatry – his lecture lasted almost 45 minutes, and was full of illustrative stories of his patients.

Also present at the media workshop were Mr. Lee (not the real name) and Ms. Ebby Loo. Both of them have been very kind to participate in the event and provide their testimonies.

Mr. Lee had suffered from depression for a few years before he was finally discovered to have Parkinson’s. The most dramatic part of his psychiatric disorder was when he was forced to undergo electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) for his depression. ECT is a procedure whereby electric shock is applied on the patient’s head as a specific treatment of severe depression that does not respond to optimal anti-depressant medications.

Ms. Ebby Loo is the daughter of a Parkinson’s patient who experienced a total of four episodes of psychosis before he eventually became demented.

The video recordings of Mr. Lee (Video-1-depression) and Ms. Ebby Loo’s father (Video-2-psychosis Part 1 and Part 2) are available in the section “Psychiatric disorders in Parkinson’s” . The story of Ms. Ebby Loo’s father is also described in “Dwarfs and the goddess of jealousy”, a chapter in the book “Two Sides of The Same Brain – Psychiatric disorders and Parkinson’s”.

Understanding the two sides of Parkinson’s – Dr. Yen (far right) and Dr. Chew (far left) explained in great details the personal experiences of Mr. Lee (second from right) and the father of Ms. Ebby Loo (third from right).

A total of ten journalists turned up for the media workshop. As the discussion went on, they were glued to their seats, as they learnt for the very first time, about the psychiatric manifestations in Parkinson’s.

Is this real? – The journalists must have found the lectures and personal stories quite shocking.

“The irony is that the specific treatment that improves the movement disorders in Parkinson’s actually contributes to the psychiatric complications in these patients. For example, Parkinson’s medications are well known to cause hallucination, a mental condition in which patients report seeing people or hearing voices that are non-existent. In other words, there is a treatment dilemma in Parkinson’s,” commented Dr. Yen.

“This is why we need this media workshop to educate the public and doctors on the impact of psychiatric disorders in Parkinson’s. The psychiatrists need to be involved in the management of Parkinson’s,” concluded Dr. Chew.

Putting the brain and mind together – The book with “two faces” tells it all. From right: Dr. Yen, Ms. Gharizah Hashim, Dr. Chew and Ms. Ebby Loo.