Medication-induced addictive behaviours in Parkinson’s disease: Scientific, clinical and legal implications of neurocognitive advances

Around 1 in 7 people with Parkinson's disease develop addictive behaviours from their daily medications. For example, gambling and hypersexuality, amongst others. This thesis investigated how Parkinson's medication affects psychological processes to bring about these addictive behaviours in certain people. It found that patients with addictive behaviours are hyper-focussed on rewards and tend to fixate on the present at the expense of the future. They can also become aggressive when denied the rewards they are driven to seek out. Nevertheless, addicted patients maintain some control over their behaviour and cannot simply blame their medication for any unlawful acts they commit.