title: Personality in Parkinson's disease: Clinical, behavioural and cognitive correlates.
abstract: Affective disorders and personality changes have long been considered pre-motor aspects of Parkinson's disease (PD). Many authors have used the term "premorbid personality" to define distinctive features of PD patients' personality characterized by reduced exploration of new environmental stimuli or potential reward sources ("novelty seeking") and avoidance behaviour ("harm avoidance") present before motor features. The functional correlates underlying the personality changes described in PD, implicate dysfunction of meso-cortico-limbic and striatal circuits. As disease progresses, the imbalance of neurotransmitter systems secondary to degenerative processes, along with dopamine replacement therapy, can produce a reversal of behaviours and an increase in reward seeking, laying the foundations for the emergence of the impulse control disorders. Personality disorders can be interpreted, therefore, as the result of individual susceptibility arising from intrinsic degenerative processes and individual personality features, in combination with extrinsic factors such as lifestyle, PD motor dysfunction and drug treatment. For a better understanding of personality disorders observed in PD and their relationship with the prodromal stage of the disease, prospective clinical studies are needed that correlate different personality profiles with other disease progression markers. Here, we review previous studies investigating the clinical, cognitive and behavioural correlates of personality traits in PD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Caserta, Italy; Institute of Diagnosis and Health, Hermitage-Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Santangelo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Caserta, Italy; Institute of Diagnosis and Health, Hermitage-Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Fausta
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Piscopo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnosis and Health, Hermitage-Capodimonte, Naples, Italy; Neurodegenerative Diseases Centre, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barone
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnosis and Health, Hermitage-Capodimonte, Naples, Italy; Department of Motor Sciences and Health, University "Parthenope", Naples, Italy. Electronic address: cavit69@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Carmine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vitale
mesh_terms: D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality
keywords: Parkinson's disease; Personality; Temperament; Trait