Parkinson’s disease is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting over 15’000 people in Switzerland. The disease progressively impacts brain cells’ ability to produce the neurotransmitter dopamine, leading to a number of symptoms from issues with motor control and cognitive processes (including language and memory), as well as sensory, and emotion regulation. In the last years, attention was drawn to reports of augmented or newly emerging artistic creativity in Parkinson disease patients treated with dopaminergic therapy. This creativity can show itself in a wide variety of areas, e.g. artistic, literary, architectural or culinary, and is often appreciated by patients and their close ones. Creativity empowers patients with Parkinson’s disease to focus on their own resources that are still functioning and helps them to cope better with the disease.

With our research we want to better understand the underlying mechanisms of this creativity. An equally important goal for us is to share the creativity of our patients to encourage the many other persons affected by the Parkinson’s to find their own "creative" way.