By Rivka Borochov
Have a parent with Parkinson’s who thinks he’ll be the next Van Gogh? There is a good chance Dad is not dreaming, according to a new scientific study from Israel on Parkinson’s disease and the creative impulse.
Doctors worldwide have noticed that people being treated for Parkinson’s show an unusual interest in art and expressing their artistic side.
For the first time ever, Israeli researchers have attempted to find a scientific basis to this phenomenon.
In the new study,
Prof. Rivka Inzelberg of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sagol Neuroscience Center at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, documents the unusual creativity displayed by patients with Parkinson's disease.
In 2013, the noted neurologist published her findings of a
previous study in Behavioral Neuroscience about how creative Parkinson’s patients can be. Then she looked for a measurable scientific difference for artistry in this group.
"It began with my observation that Parkinson's patients have a special interest in art and have creative hobbies incompatible with their physical limitations," says Inzelberg. " In my present research, we conducted the first comprehensive study to measure the creative thinking of Parkinson's patients. This was not a simple task, because how does one measure, or quantify, creativity? We had to think creatively ourselves.”
The
new study, published in the Annals of Neurology, shows that people with Parkinson's are demonstrably more creative than their non-Parkinson’s peers.
The cause appears to be the dopamine-stimulating medication that many Parkinson’s patients take to quell tremors.
Inzelberg says the findings aren’t that surprising because there is a long established link between artistry and dopamine. In fact, "we know that Van Gogh had psychotic spells, in which high levels of dopamine are secreted in the brain, and he was able to paint masterpieces during these spells — so we know there is a strong relationship between creativity and dopamine,” she explains.
She has found a link between the amount of medication taken and the level of artistic expression; more dopamine equals more creativity. In previous research she documented how one playwright said he wanted to take more Parkinson’s drugs because it helped him work.
Feeding an urge
But the drug isn’t the only factor that causes enhanced creativity, she points out: “There is an urge to do something artistic, but not all people will feel this,” she says.
In the study, Inzelberg and a multi-center team of researchers from TAU, Sheba Medical Center, and Bar-Ilan University did a series of tests on 27 Parkinson's patients being treated with anti-tremor drugs and compared them to the same number of people, matched for age and education, without Parkinson’s.
The groups performed the Verbal Fluency exam, the Remote Association Test, the Novel Metaphor Test and the Tel Aviv University Creativity Test. The latter asked patients for creative uses for specific objects like sandals. Additional tests were newly invented for this study.
Throughout all phases of the testing process, the people with Parkinson's disease offered far more original answers than did the control group.
The researchers also did a special survey to rule out obsessive-compulsive behaviors like gambling and hoarding, which tend to be more prevalent in people with Parkinson’s disease. They found no link between compulsive behavior and higher levels of creativity.
The conclusions from the studies are that dopamine-stimulating drugs meant to reduce tremors and lack of coordination have a knock-on effect in igniting creativity. This can happen when taking synthetic precursors of dopamine or dopamine receptor agonists.
Art classes for Nana?
Inzelberg can’t say for certain if every person with Parkinson’s should be prescribed art classes, but studying and doing art in general can have enormous benefits in helping patients beat the blues and stay connected to their communities.
"After my first paper, I helped organize exhibits of patients' paintings in Herzliya and Ra’anana and received feedback about similar exhibits in Canada and France,” she says.
"These exhibits were useful in raising funds for Parkinson's research, providing occupational therapy for patients and, most importantly, offering an opportunity for patients to fully express themselves."
Artists have long been known to dabble in certain drugs, some of them illicit. Inzelberg is aware of the link.
“Drugs like cocaine may reinforce dopamine activity,” she says. But further study is needed to determine the reason for increased creativity, which might hinge on another system in the body.
“It could be that the [Parkinson’s drugs] induce a lack of inhibition or change of self-perception –– factors that could lead people to create more art,” Inzelberg concludes.