Case Report: Levodopa - induced creative awakening in a patient with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease is primarily a neurodegenerative disorder and presents with neurological symptoms but it can also have  accompanying psychiatric symptoms. In addition, in some patients with Parkinson’s disease there can be an awakening of their creativity, which can take several forms. Such creativity can be seen in art-naïve patients or in whom the creativity lay dormant. Although the precise mechanism for this phenomenon is not understood, treatment with levodopa and dopamine agonists have been considered responsible in some cases. Here, we describe a patient with Parkinson’s disease in whom levodopa treatment triggered a latent creative skill that was dormant since childhood. Through the patient’s own and his wife’s eyes, we discuss the clinical benefits of this phenomenon.