Losing Religion? Symptom of Parkinson's Disease | Neurology Now

Neurology Now is a bi-monthly magazine in the USA for of the American Academy of Neurologists,. It is for neurologists, caregivers, and patients (patients get it free).

In the current print and online editions (Dec 2012-Jan 2013) there is an interesting sidebar in the article Not Just Tremor: Recognizing depression and other non-motor symptom.... (Page 23 in print edition) (As I have epilepsy, I qualify for a free subscription, oh boy. I'd rather trade the epilepsy and get a free subscription to Playboy, but I wasn't asked.)

While the article is mostly interesting to those with, or who give care to patients with Parkinson's, it discusses other problems which can show up as long as twenty years before the onset of tremors, including depression, sudden fatigue, social withdrawal, and irritability. The sidebar has the following interesting additional symptom that can come with those: the loss of religious belief.

Losing Religion?

"People with PD even have a tendency to lose their interest in religion—a change more readily considered philosophical than pathological. According to research by Patrick McNamara, Ph.D., of Boston University School of Medicine, people with PD report significantly lower levels of interest in religion. Brain scans show that this lack of interest coincides with changes in the prefrontal cortex but does not correlate with depression, age, education, intelligence, or medication."

The full article is at the Neurology Now link. Doctor McNamara has an interview in the Boston Globe at this link answering questions with a reporter about how he comes to this conclusion for the little-brained like me.

So, is your atheism a thing of reason and philosophical outlook, based on evidence (or its dearth in the case of religion), or the onset of Parkinson's? Dr. McNamara, a respected neurologist at Boston University School of Medicine, thinks in some cases it is a symptom of the latter.

It should be known that in the article he states he also studies the interface between science and religion, is not particularly religious himself, but has a lot of respect for religion and the vast array of religious expression around the world.

James, mostly snorting with disbelief over this ninny's interview. (On the other hand, he doesn't really want to lose his backers at the university and funding, so he has to be careful about what he says in public.)