Parkinson's & mental health

My last article that appeared in The Huffington Post was entitled "The many elements of chronic disease" and I wrote about the mental health issues that unfortunately often accompany Parkinson's disease. I find it sad and hard to understand that in today's society when many topics are spoken of so openly, that this one issue remains steeped in stigma and people are not forthcoming about a very normal and huge part of most chronic illnesses. The very nature of Parkinson's, not to mention the countless medications that have some nasty strong side effects, without doubt cause mental health issues to arise. Sweeping them under the carpet may have been considered acceptable fifty years ago, but we are now in the year 2012, so let's give ourselves a little more credit; things should have improved and changed, we must be able to talk freely, without shame or embarrassment about mental health. Anyone who knows about Parkinson's realises early on, that depression plays a major role in this degenerative disease and cannot be left to merely sort itself out. Hallucinations are also common with more advanced cases, which can be highly alarming to the sufferer and to those around. The more knowledge and educated we become, the better we can tackle these unpleasant symptoms as and when they arise. Enough sweeping under the carpet; let's come clean - have a spring clean (although it's mid winter - it must be spring somewhere in the world!) and get these issues out in the open and taken care of.