By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on November 27, 2014 Researchers have learned that simply the expectation of learning stimulates brain activity among individuals with Parkinsons. For individuals with Parkinsons disease, the placebo effect activates the brain, providing a response similar to that experienced after the administration of actual medications. Researchers say the study clearly shows the relationship between psychology and medicine. In the study, investigators at the University of Colorado Boulder and Columbia University investigated the placebo influence to better understand the relationship between brain dopamine, expectations, and learning. Past research has shown that while Parkinsons disease is a neurological reality, the brain systems involved may also be affected by a patients expectations about treatment. The new study explains how the placebo treatmentwhen patients believe they have received medication when they have not works in people with Parkinsons disease. For these individuals, investigators have determined the placebo effect activates dopamine-rich areas in the brain. The study is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The findings highlight the power of expectations to drive changes in the brain, said Dr. Tor Wager, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at University of Colorado Boulder … Continue reading →

Therapy involves injecting a virus into the brain which induces production of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Photograph: Hugh Macknight/PA Wire Sheila Roy, a woman on an experimental gene therapy treatment for Parkinsons disease, never imagined three years ago that she would be well enough to write a book. The 66-year-old from Bedfordshire, England, is to speak today at an international conference hosted by NUI Galway. She has experienced progressive improvements since she volunteered for the radical treatment in 2011, she said. It goes in stages, but I took a big step up just two weeks ago, Ms Roy told The Irish Times . Her neurologist, Prof Roger Barker of the University of Cambridge, who will participate in the presentation, notes she has already been able to reduce her medication by 50 per cent. I had Parkinsons for 17 years, and was not well at all, when I heard about this treatment, Ms Roy said of her decision to volunteer for trials of ProSavin, a viral gene therapy manufactured by Oxford BioMedica. It involves injecting a virus into the brain which induces production of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Deficiency of nerve-controlling dopamine causes the neurodegenerative condition, which affects an estimated four million people … Continue reading →