Abstract
It has been pointed out that a depressive state is present in Parkinson's disease. In the present study, Zung's Self-Evaluation Depression Scale (SDS) test was conducted to determine whether or not a depressive state is present in Parkinson's disease. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scake (WAIS) test to determine whether or not there is any mental deterioration and YG character test to determine character patterns, and furthermore a study was conducted to examine the relation of the presence or absence of depressive state to the severity of physical symptoms, decreased intelligence, and the course of illness overtime. The subjects of this study were 73 cases of Parkinson's disease whose mean age was 66.0±7.2years, whose mean period of mobidity was 5.2 ±3.7 years, and whose severity of physical symptoms was according to Yahr's classification Grade I in 6 cases, Gade II in 28 cases, Grade III in 31 cases, and Grade IV in 8 cases. All were under drug therapy. A total of 48 normal cases having the mean age of 67.8±6.8 years were used as the control group. In addition, SDS test was concucted on 48 normal controls whose age ranged from 55 to 80 years with a mean of 67.8±6.8 years and on 40 patients with cerebral vascular damage whose daily activity disturbance was almost equivalent to that of Parkinson's disease patients of this study and whose age ranged from 48 to 81 years with a mean of 66.4±8.1 years. Comparison of the SDS index showed the index of 50.3±10.6 in the control group, 52.8±12.2 in the group with cerebral vascular damage, and 57.7±13.5 in the group with Parkinson's disease. SDS index in the group with Parkinson's disease was significantly higher than that in the normal group (p<0.01) and that in the group with cerebral vasculal damage (p<0.05). We have also observed that the higher the severity of Yahr's level, the higher tended to be the depressive index. In our study, mental deterioration was observed in Parkinson's disease cases, but no correlation between mental disturbance and depressive state could be observed. In the YG character test, Category E (unstable, inadaptive, and passive type) was greater in number in the Parkinson's disease group than in the control group, while Category D (stable, adaptive, and positive type) was smaller. Parkinson's disease patients tend to be emotionally unstable, socially maladaptive, inactive and introverted. The possibility is suggested that the depressive state in patients with Parkinson's disease is not only the response due to physical symptoms but also that a disorder of the amine metabolism is involved.
