(1) Why are we doing this study?

Anxiety has been listed as the second most important issue by people with Parkinson’s and depression is also common in Parkinson’s, affecting approximately 40% of patients. There is currently little information about how and where anxiety with or without depressive symptoms originates in patients with Parkinson’s, how to be best treat it or why some patients with Parkinson’s are more prone to anxiety than others.

What are we trying to find out?

We want to find out what the risk factors and associated clinical features are for anxiety in people with Parkinson’s, and to identify the underlying biological changes associated with emotional dysfunction in the disease. The eventual aim will be to identify targets to help design therapies to improve anxiety in Parkinson’s. We also would like to see if patterns of anxiety and depression, which is often associated with anxiety, differ in people with and without Parkinson’s. Finally, we would like to see if there are structural or functional brain differences between people who have anxiety in Parkinson’s and those who do not.