Hello everyone!
Has anyone ever come across a Parkinson's patient who is on anti-Parkinson drugs and is having psychotic breaks? If so, what kind of psych evaluation do they go through if they commit something against the law?
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Hi Affra!
I remember from one of my classes learning about how L-DOPA is used to treat Parkinson's Disease. It's mechanism of action (put very simply) is that it is taken orally, crosses the blood brain barrier, and converts to dopamine to compensate for the decreased level of endogenous dopamine caused by the disease.
According to this study, L-DOPA increases the risk of the patient developing psychosis by increasing levels of both the prefrontal cortex dopamine and serum corticosterone.
I'm not sure how/if this is taken into consideration if the person commits a crime! Maybe someone else has more insight?