Category: Parkinson's Disease: Cognitive functions
Objective: We present a Parkinson’s disease (PD) patient in whom dopamine agonists produced a dramatic change in her art style and production, and the subsequent evolution of her artistic work as illness evolves.
Background: In PD, despite the loss of motor skills, artistic capacities remain preserved and may change with anti-parkinsonian therapy, curse of disease and development of nonmotor symptoms.
Method: Patient is a 79-year-old female who was a professional of the plastic arts. At the age of 54 she was diagnosed with PD presenting with progressive rigidity, bradykinesia and tremor of the left side. Treatment with levodopa/benserazide 450 mg/ day and rotigotine 8mg/day and rasagiline 1mg/day improved motor symptoms. While receiving this anti-parkinsonian medication the patient felt more creative and started an overproduction of artistic work/started overproducing her artistic work. She began to make sculptures [figure1] and playing the guitar. She spent most of the day pursuing her newly acquired artistic interests, with high economic expenditure, features that could resemble compulsive behavior and hobbyism. Self-satisfactory daytime production was achieved with levodopa 150 mg four times a day and rotigotina 4mg.
Results: With these therapeutic reduction hobbyism improved and she reduced her creative activities. With illness evolution her work presented changes in emotional tone, expressing with her paintings the mental frustration and motor and nonmotor constraints of PD [figure 2]. During periods of clinical improvement, it represents floral motifs with bright colors. When she presented visual hallucinations, she drew them in detail [figure3.]
Conclusion: This case suggests that changes in creativity in PD may be related to dopaminergic imbalance, curse of disease and nonmotor symptoms.
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To cite this abstract in AMA style:
AM. Diezma Martín, G. Tabar Comellas, MI. Morales-Casado, DD. Garcia Melendez, JW. Ruiz Gómez, P. Quintana Castro, M. Ennazeh Elkhaili, D. Rivero Rodríguez, N. López Ariztegui. Changes in artistic style and Parkinson’s Disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2023; 38 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/changes-in-artistic-style-and-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed September 7, 2024.« Back to 2023 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/changes-in-artistic-style-and-parkinsons-disease/