In this article the social aspects or Parkinson's disease are discussed as well the therapeutics employed to control it.
In the first instante it is pointed out that in addition to the hereditary and other biological influences, the socio-psychological aspect is also of importante for the pathogenesis. The author considers the shaking palsy to be a psychoso- matic disease, a cultural or existential disease. In consequence the writer approaches the disease from an existential anthropological viewpoint. Human existence is defined as a polar entity of tension between the personal aspect of being and the bodily subjectivity 'corps sujet'. This concept implies that an intimate relationship exists between the nature of the Parkinson patient's existence and his bodily subjectivity. The somatic phenomena are details, indicative of the panorama which is the existential mode of the Parkinson patient. Conversely the unity which exists between the personal aspect of being and the bodily subjectivity implies that alternations in the conditien of the body (of which the nervous system is a part) exert an influence on the personal ( as well as the social existence) and on the existence as a totality.
The somatic focal lesion brought about in circumscribed parts of the interval thalamus opticus or in the globus pallidus (pallidum) evokes a modified mode of existence in the patient; on the new level of functioning tremor no longer occurs and the somatic stiffness is diminished. These changes have an extremely favourable effect on the social life of the patient. The somatic de-armourisation can be seen in the sphere of personal existence, inter alia in the fact that the operated patiënt is less perfectionistic than previously, and the spastic hyperrational made of personal being which makes him a slave to his accentuated norms, is considerably reduced. The emotional-affective aspect of his postoperative existential mode also differs from the pre-operative. The operated individual is much better able to express himself emotionally than previously was the case and hence it is possible for him to make social contacts easier. Moreover they feel that they have been liberated from emotional tensions and obsessional impulses.
The disappearance of the tremor has for the patient great importante, for the shaking is experienced as a symptom involving marked social disorganisation.