The Hidden Epidemic

Apathy in Parkinson's Disease, Neurodegeneration, and the Aging Brain

Approximately 40% of people with Parkinson’s disease are affected by apathy. Not depression, but a specific and measurable loss of the drive to initiate. No therapy is approved for it. Current management relies on off-label medicines developed for other symptoms.

• Why apathy is not depression, and why the distinction changes treatment
• Prevalence, and how apathy is measured
• The neurobiology: disrupted effort-reward circuitry
• Care-partner burden, institutionalization and functional decline