Parkinson’s disease psychosis (PDP) is a common non-motor syndrome spanning minor phenomena to formed hallucinations and delusions. Risk rises with age, disease duration, sleep disturbance, and medication exposure. Visual hallucinations are most frequent (≈22–43%). PDP accelerates functional decline, predicts hospitalization and mortality, worsens sleep and quality of life, and adds substantial caregiver burden. Early neuropsychiatric symptoms can precede cognitive impairment and herald dementia. Assessment relies on both general psychiatric scales and PD-specific tools.
Device-aided therapies require caution, and short-term antipsychotic stabilization can help when such therapies are necessary. Building scalable, culturally valid assessment pathways enables earlier detection, tailored treatment, and reduced caregiver burden. In China, priorities include culturally adapted, digitally deliverable scales and structured rater training to improve feasibility in low-resource settings. Routine caregiver education and medication review should be embedded in follow-up to mitigate safety risks and sleep disruption.
Reference: Wang S, Yang B, Lu P, et al. Research progress of assessment tools for Parkinson’s disease psychosis in China. Front Psychiatry. 2025;16:1588618. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1588618.
