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Vol. 23 No. 1 March 2002
Identification of the Role of Distress and Personality in the Onset and Prevention of Parkinsonism:
A Study by Questionnaire
BRIAN MAGRATH, Hypnotherapist
Menangle, New South Wales

ABSTRACT
This study investigates the possibility that there may be a human personality type, which may be prone to the onset of Parkinsonism. Should this be so, it may then be possible to identify those personalities before the disorder develops. It was also intended to investigate the probability of interventions by psychosomatic medicine, [PSM], such as hypnosis, being of value in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, [PD]. One hundred and three, [103] subjects diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and a similar number who are not, as a control sample were presented a questionnaire for completion.
The questions related to personality characteristics, life details and the influence of clinical depression.
The ages of the two samples were kept in similar age-band quantities, by random removal of subjects from the control sample. By analysis, the prevalence of diagnostically discovered clinical depression in the PD sample was 40.8%, whilst in the control sample was 10.7%.
It appeared that a “Quantum of Regret” attached to all loss experienced by humans, may contribute to the loss or depletion of cells which produce neuro-chemicals, dopamine in particular, and therefore lead to the onset of Parkinson’s Disease and, perhaps, other neurological disorders.
Should it be that this factor may be identified in the individual, then its removal may affect the cytological responses within the body of the individual.
This study received the approval of the Human Research Ethics Committee of the South Eastern Sydney Area Health Service, New South Wales, Australia.

INTRODUCTION
Parkinsonism

Rajendran, Thompson and Reich, [2001], found that 40% of patients with PD used at least one complementary therapy. More than half of the patients who used a complementary therapy did so without the knowledge of the treating physician. The inference of this finding may be that the common orthodox view that PD is “for life” is not generally believed by the sufferer.
[The author takes the view that using the term “alternative” for non-orthodox medical interventions, is misapplication, and that the term complementary is more accurate a description. On the one hand, “alternative” implies competitiveness with orthodox medicine, and on the other, once a diagnosis is completed, all treatments from whatever source, are “alternatives”.]
Some years ago, the author began an effort, with people who have diagnosed idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, to treat their problem using psychosomatic therapies. Well-tried and defined psychosomatic treatments, [including counselling and hypnotherapy], being employed in that pilot study, led to the formulation of hypothetical treatments for the disorder, to be used in a larger study.

During the collection of information from six patients who had requested treatment, it was noticed that there existed many similarities in that information, and approximately thirty patients were contacted and confirmation was made as to these similarities.
This questionnaire based investigation is intended to refine and define the parameters of treatments that may be more efficacious. A format for such treatment may now be constructed from the information gained.

The word Parkinsonism refers not to a disease, but to a commonly recognised condition marked by a characteristic set of symptoms, [Duvoisin & Sage 1996]. The classic “triad” of symptoms are tremor, rigidity and Bradykinesia.
In Northern Europe and in the United States of America, it is estimated that at least one in every thousand people will develop the symptoms of the disorder known as Parkinsonism. [Stern & Lees, 1993].

This study proposes that distress may have a major part in the creation of the conditions which may lead to the onset of PD.

Dopamine, a neurotransmitter, appears to be deficient in people who have the symptoms of PD. It is generally thought that this is caused by a reduction in the cells which produce dopamine, [DA], or its precursors. It is widely proposed that any imbalance of any neurotransmitter would disturb the precise balance of bodily function and control.
In the clinical diagnosis of Parkinsonism, organisms or organelles known as Lewy bodies are sought, since in the pathology of Parkinsonism these structures are typically present in the nerve cells of the spinal cord, the sympathetic ganglia and certain cells of the oesophagus and intestinal tract. At present, the purpose or origin of these structures remains a mystery, yet much work is underway to establish the reason for their production by the body. It may be that these structures also exist in the case of other degenerative disorders.
Today, nearly all neurologists and neuropathologists who study Parkinsonism agree: “If there are no Lewy bodies, it isn’t Parkinson’s disease”. [Duvoisin &Sage, 1996] The disorder is utterly democratic, and respects no boundaries of age, gender, employment, creed or ethnic origin.

Depression in sufferers from PD is so common that it is almost a constant feature of Parkinson’s disease; [Godwin & Austin, 1997]. During previous investigations and pilot studies with persons having the disorder, it was noticed that there existed the possibility of there being similarities in personality or character among these subjects, in addition to similar attitudes towards life. By verbal investigation, it was discovered that these characteristics were present before the onset of the disorder, rather than having been engendered by the disorder.
If it were possible to identify certain factors common to the lives or personalities of people prior to the development of PD, then it may be possible to recognise a potential victim prior to its onset.
It is recognised that much investigation into the matter of genetic liability or predilection for the disorder is being carried out, and a discovery of such a genetic composite may prove vital in the management of the disorder. However, the question of what course of action to take upon the identification of such a similarity would remain.

Duvoisin & Sage [1996 p. 72], refer to depression in sufferers from PD, thus:
“Depression or melancholia is not uncommon among Parkinsonian patients. Some physicians have reported that Levodopa, [a pharmaceutical used in the treatment of PD], may exacerbate or provoke depression”.
In this study it will be shown that in a majority of cases, depression or depressive conditions existed in the PD patient before the onset of PD.

A review of pharmaceuticals intended for the treatment of depression will find none that claim to treat the aetiology of depression, only to assist with the symptoms. Personality and its study is generally recognised to be a complex matter, because of the myriad shades of feeling and emotion, which have been evolved by humankind. Removing the subjectivity from the study of personality is equally difficult.

The Hypothesis
It is proposed that chronic and incremental distress in humans arising from the abstract emotions concerned with loss, may ultimately cause degeneration in the sources of production of primary neuro-chemicals, which leads to uncoordinated, spasmodic, uncontrolled muscular activity typical of degenerative neurological disorders.
A significant contribution to the onset of human neuro-chemical systems may be made by a combination within an individual, of incremental, distress-related losses, and an inability to provide an effective defence against the effects of those losses.
If this should be true, then treatment for the individual may be available within him- or herself. It might also be possible to identify potential sufferers and prevent the onset of such disorders. Neuro-chemical and bio-chemical research is, of course, vital and necessary towards the understanding of life systems, but there may be a long way to go before we fully comprehend how the human body controls, manufactures and uses the many chemical structures available, some even now, unknown.

This study gains its legitimacy from the necessity to try to develop preventive and therapeutic techniques that may be of present value, and which may continue to be of use after the actual causes are known and understood.

METHOD
The Design of the investigation is a multi-centre, parallel group qualitative study by questionnaire and was conducted between November 2000, and September 2001. It is a retrospective, longitudinal study, utilising age-band partitioning. APPROVAL FOR THE STUDY WAS GIVEN BY THE HUMAN RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEE OF THE SOUTH EAST SYDNEY AREA HEALTH SERVICE, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

Subjects

Individual support groups of the Parkinson’s Australia Organisation gave their consent to be involved in the study.

The PD sample was selected at random from people who:

• Are members of the support group and who have diagnosed Parkinsonism; and,
• Chose to attend the meeting at which the questionnaire was presented by prior arrangement and notice; and,
• Chose to participate in the study by signing the consent form.

The proportion of males to females reflects the proportional attendance at each of the meetings of the support groups.

One hundred and sixteen [116], persons with diagnosed PD, comprising eighty [80] males, and thirty-six [36] females, were asked to participate in the study. Of these, three, [3], chose not to participate.
Three, [3], females were excluded, as they constituted three different age bands, under the age of 50 years. This was considered statistically unusable.

The ages of the remaining one hundred and ten, [110], subjects in the PD sample ranged from fifty, [50], to eighty-nine, [89], years.

From these one hundred and ten, [110], subjects, three, [3], males and four, [4], females were withdrawn, as having rendered spoiled or incomplete questionnaire forms.

One hundred and fifty three, [153], respondents were gathered as a control sample. They were drawn from non-PD sufferers who attended the PD meetings, and who chose to respond, and others attending meetings of Rotarians, and others, who invited the researcher to attend and deliver the questionnaire.
Of these, six, [6], were rejected as being outside the 50 to 89 years of age range in the PD sample.

Independently of the investigator, the responses from the remaining one hundred and forty seven, [147], persons were sorted into age bands, and each age band was reduced by random, blind selection, to match in quantity the PD subjects’ age bands.

Questionnaire

The object of the questionnaire was to evaluate any definitive dissimilarity in personality between persons who have been diagnosed with PD, and a similar number who have not. No personal details which could identify the subject, were solicited, so that each questionnaire could not be identified with the person completing it.
This offered complete anonymity to the respondent, which, it was hoped, would lead to candour in answering the various questions posed, and might avoid responses given because it as a study, and they are in it. [The Hawthorne Effect].

The questions posed sought the following information, self-reported with respect to each respondent:

(a) Age
(b) Gender
(c) Main Occupation
(d) An opinion as to the cause of the disorder in the respondent
(e) A declaration as to the most stressful event in the subject’s life and its date.
(f) If and when PD had been diagnosed
(g) If and when clinical depression had been treated
(h) The subjects were asked whether parents were alive and if not the date of their death

There followed a series of questions relating to personality characteristics. The respondents were asked to evaluate the degree to which characteristics of personality applied to them. The degree to which the respondent thought each characteristic applied to them was denoted by a number, which the respondent was asked to circle:

The questions asked the subjects to declare whether they would apply any of the following descriptive characteristics to themselves, and, if so, to state a degree of or level of that characteristic:

The question then asked was “Do you like to be alone?” In addition; “Do you like to be in a crowd?”; to which the answers: “Yes”, “No”, or “Don’t Care”, were required.

For the majority of respondents, the completion of the questionnaire took an approximate 15 to 20 minutes.
After completing the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to declare whether the answers just given represented their feelings now, [i.e. post onset of PD – where applicable], or whether they were considered to be characteristics of a lifetime.

Procedure

During regular meetings of Parkinson’s disease support groups, a short introductory and explanatory talk was delivered to the subjects, by the investigator, carefully avoiding any comment which may give rise to bias in answering the questions in the questionnaire, and after any doubts of questions had been dealt with, permission was sought from the respondents to complete the questionnaire.
At the same meetings, and at meetings of other organisations who had invited the investigator to speak, were carers and other persons, unaffected by PD, and who volunteered to act as control sample subjects.

No attempt was made to evaluate socio-economic or educational / intellectual status of the subjects.
There was no random assignment of subjects in this study, and whilst twenty-eight, [28], of the control group subjects had connections to the problem of PD in some way, it is asserted that this does not affect their random validity, since the assessment of their responses should be comparably personal.

Measurement

It is intended to evaluate whether the subjects of this study who have PD and those who do not, at similar ages, exhibit different attitudes towards the distresses of life. The intention is to provide a basis for future work, in prevention, treatment and assessment of the disorder.

Depression.
Subjects response comparisons were made by whole number and percentage prevalence. Elapsed years of depression were used on the premise that depression has longevity.

Distress.
Comparisons were made by whole number and percentage prevalence. Elapsed years of distress were compared, on the premise that an event cognitively marked and remembered as distressful, arguably continues to create distress for the subject, until such a time that the subject no longer remembers or regards it as “stressful”.

Personality Characteristics.
Analysing the numerically coded answers, compared to a simple norm for each characteristic, compares sample responses. Positive, neutral or negative responses are then comparable, and may be judged for reported validity by response comparison of opposite characteristics.

Loss of Parent.
Theses statistics were simply evaluated by elapsed time spent without each parent, and comparative ages for each group studied. Thus, all subjects were included in each relevant age group for which they qualified by reason of present age, therefore endeavouring to be able to make numerical, longitudinally assessable, retrospective assessment of this aspect of the subjects’ lives.

RESULTS

The questions posed by the questionnaire sought the following information, self-reported, with respect to each respondent.

Age and Gender. The study samples of PD subjects and Control subjects appear in Tables 1 and 2.

Main Occupation. As an adjunct to the main work, it was considered interestingly relevant to identify any trends within occupations. There appeared to be no such trends of any significance.

An opinion as to the Cause of the Disorder in the Respondent. The responses to this question were of little interest statistically to this study.

A Declaration as to the most stressful event in the subjects’ life and its date.

Within this response, the study was looking for events which the respondent regarded as distressful, and which could be regarded as “Loss”. Respondents were asked not to give a response if they could not immediately recall such an event, thus hoping to preclude searching the memory for such events.

In Table 3 Column [b] is the number of subjects who reported remembering a stressful event, which could be described as a “Loss” event.
Column [d] represents the number of years over which the events referred to in [b] have been remembered.
Columns [e] to [h] indicate the order of events in [b].

The principle categories of event were:

• Death of a close relation or friend; or experience of mass death as in war or emergency service experience;
• Divorce and marital breakdown. It is interesting to note that neither the PD nor the Control samples of females reported divorces. It might have been interesting had circumstances allowed, to deepen this line of enquiry.
• Loss of independence. This distressful event related to any response, which referred to a loss of the subjects’ independence in terms of, for example, mobility, psychological integrity, financial security etcetera.
• Other losses. Referred to events such as loss of self-esteem, loss of home, loss of employment and so on.

Column [1] is the number of subjects, not included in the above, who reported events which were otherwise than events relating to “loss”.
Column [j] is the number of each sub-sample who declared a stressful loss event, and, in addition, declared having been diagnosed with clinical depression.

If and When PD had been Diagnosed.

From this questionnaire response, was evaluated the relationship between depression, the distressful event and the onset of PD.

If and When Clinical Depression had been Treated.

This response was framed to indicate the approximate year in which the subjects’ depression was first treated by medical routines, which, of course, may differ from its actual onset. The question of present status of depression and its treatment was not asked on the premise that such questioning may engender emotive responses which would be more accurately approached within a more in depth, personal interview.

Table 4 shows the percentage prevalence of Clinical Depression in both samples. The greater percentage shown by the PD sample reflects the comments made earlier concerning depression. It can be seen that in thirty six out of 42 cases, [36 / 42 ], [85.7%], depression had preceded the onset of PD.

In 1999, [Mental Health of Australians, 1999], it was estimated that the percentage prevalence of depression in Australia amounted to 4.2% of all males, and 7.4% of females, or 5.8% of all persons. With respect to these National figures, the control sample appears to be high, and may relate to the incidence of carers in the control sample.

Although treated by pharmaceuticals, and kept under control thereby, the underlying problem in clinical depression remains the province of psychotherapy.
There are no currently listed anti-depression or anti-psychotic pharmaceuticals for which the mechanism of action is known or understood. Such preparations are intended for the management of the disorder, rather than the removal of the cause.

Question [h].
The subjects were asked whether parents were alive and, if not, the date of their death; from these responses it was possible to assess whether each sample has differences in experiences in this respect.

Table 5 shows each sample in the study compared at comparative ages at which they qualified by reason of present age.

In this small sample study, these data may be regarded with some caution. Much larger samples would be needed to validate these findings, yet they appear to indicate noticeable trends, when referred to the individuals responding.
In the case of male respondents, the PD subjects, [n = 73], have spent much more of their lives without one or both parents, than have the control male samples, [n = 73].
At the comparative age of 40 years, the subjects with PD had spent over three times the number of years without a Mother and/or Father, than had the control males sample

In reviewing the female respondents, [n = 30], the “No Father Time” – NFT – appears to be a factor, but because of the size of the sample, validity could be regarded as suspect.
In fact, there are two [2], subjects in the female control sample, [see above – random selection], who have very long NMT periods, whilst the remainder are more on a par with the male sample. However, as already acknowledged, the size of the female samples, taken by comparison to the findings among the males, underlines the need for a larger number of subjects.

Question [i]

There followed a series of questions relating to personality characteristics; the respondents were asked to select a number which, in the subjects’ opinion, more closely denoted the degree to which the indicated characteristics of personality applied to them.
Data shown in Table 6 indicates variations from the mean values of each sample. Positive values indicate the degree of trend from the mid-point, “About Half the Time”, towards “Most of the Time”; negative values relate to trends towards “Hardly Ever”.

“Apprehensive” and Confident” findings data appear to indicate predictable and logical responses from the Control male and female samples, on the simple premise that, “If not one then the Other”.
These were the first responses called for in the questionnaire, and it was planned that they should produce more responses that are intuitive, rather than the later answers being more considered.

From these data, it is possible to test the validity of the responses to the question posed, by comparing each characteristic with the opposite characteristic in the series.

Within the PD sample, there is demonstrated a less confident and ore cautious tendency in the “Apprehensive” response, which is similarly reflected in the cases of “Dependence on Others’ and “Self-Assured”.
The responses to “Suspicious” and “Trusting”, “Practical” and “Imaginative” are likewise predictably well balanced between each group.
“Nervous” and “Calm” appear to demonstrate the core dissimilarity between the samples balance well and offer an acceptable level of validity of response in each sample.
“Easily Hurt” and “Hard”, appear to indicate the possibility of the PD subjects reporting a greater susceptibility that the control subjects towards criticism and generalised mental harm generated by events in their lives of a distressful nature.
In response to the “Easily Hurt” question, the control male subjects, [n = 73], responded with twenty-six [26], “Hardly Ever” and thirty-two [32], “Sometimes”, whilst the PD males, [n = 73], gave five, [5], “Hardly Ever”, and twenty [20], “Sometimes”.
In the case of the “Optimistic” question, there was no particular interest, since both samples appeared to be similar in response.

Question [j].
The questions posed concerning being in a crowd or alone, showed no noticeable differences, except that there was a minor trend in the control sample towards a “Don’t Care” response to both questions.

Question [k].
When the PD sample, [n = 103], after completion of the questionnaire, were asked wheter the responses they had just given were indicative of solely the present, i.e. post PD, or whether they had felt more or less always the same, the answers, overwhelmingly, were “Always”.
A small part of the sample, [< 10], responded that their “Dependence on Others” may have increased due to the onset of PD.

DISCUSSION
Aspects of Neuro-Chemistry

As the result of much research, a great deal is known and understood about the chemistry of the autonomic systems of the body.
Levodopa, [LA], is an aromatic amino-acid, and is the metabolic precursor to Dopamine, [DE].
DE is a neurotransmitter, responsible for normal muscle action. In the human body, if LA is taken orally, the human body responds by producing > 30 metabolites, although conversion into DE mainly takes place; in smaller amounts, adrenaline, [AD], and noradrenaline, [NAD]; [epinephrine and norepinephrine in the U.S.A.].
Thus may be emphasised the close association in the body of DE, AD and NAD.
On the one hand, DE is required for the transmission of clear, controlled neurological signals to musculature, on the other hand, it is required to produce the metabolites AD and NAD, to assist that same musculature to “flee or fight”, probably in that order.
Most adrenalin is produced in the adrenal medulla, and may be released from that source in quantities responding to incoming signals of distress from the autonomic control system. NAD has been found to arise at the peripheral endings of the sympathetic nervous system, [SNS], and it may have a function in the production of AD via the SNS.

In FEAR, muscular activity is of paramount importance, and the autonomic systems of the organism are devoted to the implementation of fast, efficient and effective muscular response. In Fear, many other physiological functions of the organism might be shut down to concentrate effort into the response of Fear. Other wise, there would be no point to Fear itself.

Curiously, the adrenal medulla, the site of production of AD, is an augmentation of the SNS, and is not essential to life, as is the adrenal cortex. This tends to support an hypothesis concerning the evolution of emotions in the human species, and the superimposition and/or interference of those emotions upon the basic natural responses developed in all organisms.

The proposal is, that a depletion of the cells that produce DE, results in the reduction of available DE for proper muscle function, which results in the onset of PD.
This depletion may, in time, be discovered to be a genetic pre-disposition, or it may be that a particular type of personality places a continuing and heavy demand upon the supply of DE, that these cells become overworked and cannot be replaced fast enough.

If, then, some dysfunction occurs within the productive capability of the organism to produce LA or DE, then the control mechanism of that organism may have to choose, whether by choice or chance, to metabolise DE into AD and NAD, or to retain the available DE for muscle control.
Should be choice be protection, which, on the face of it, would seem to be the logical choice, then the resultant production of AD and NAD will leave a paucity of DE for other uses.

“Trembling with rage”, or “Trembling with fear”, are well-known observations, and the similarity in response may not be so hard to accept. “Rage”, it could be argued, has no logical purpose in the natural rhythms of life; it may be an evolved and complicated emotion.

If the distress response is not understood by the autonomic control of the body, then random “fear-like” responses may result, since the fundamental structure of the body’s systems may have no evolved mechanism for defence against distress.

Distress may promote responses that may start and stop many times in a microsecond. Imagination can deliver distress in a chronic repetitive manner, unlike the natural onset of fear.
Tremor, Bradykinesia and rigidity may result.

Death

It is generally asserted that during human history the subject of human death was never far from general consideration. High mortality rates and low life expectancies, brought death into the common regular experience of many people. This, it could be argued, made death readily assimilative in human lives.
However, in recent history, with improvements in medical interventions and preventions, the experience of death may have become less present in the lives of many people.
Perhaps more so in developed societies.
It is interesting to note, that as the experience of death recedes from the experiential norm, vicarious experience of death increases by means of mass information and entertainment.

Loss

The human experience of death generates emotions that are generally labelled grief and/or bereavement for the loss that is death.
Death represents ultimate loss. “Loss of Life” is a generally used phrase. Euphemisms for death abound. “Passed over”; “Gone before” are typical.
Despite any attempts by the highly developed human intellect to ameliorate the event of death, for example, by religious or ritual means, the dead person remains, gone; dead; lost.
In venturing to speak of death to a person suffering grief, as any counsellor will testify, can be very delicate work. The unattainable, unchangeable aspect of death, to an organism, which, because of its huge power of intellect, believes that it can “do anything”, may appear to be an anathema.

“Depression is a maladaptive response to loss”; [Kaplan, 1994, p.73]. In addition, Kaplan writes that during bereavement, the surviving person is in a vulnerable physical state of biological disequilibria; and the view has wide support that bereavement is a factor in the development of a wide range of physical and emotional disorders, including fatal illness.
Thus the concept of Post-Natal Depression can be logically perceived as an extension of the post-partum loss of part of the Mothers’ body.

If the human emotion, grief, were to be regarded as purely selfish, then the inward development of depressive, emotively based psychological, [and consequentially physiological], reactions and responses are likely to centre upon the development of feelings of hopelessness, helplessness and withdrawal from normal living.
The “griever”, the “loser”, may adopt the view that the future, without the “lost” person, shall be unendurable. Issues of survival may emerge and depression result.
In other words, distress.

Possession.

The concept of “loss” must involve possession.
Therefore it may be that any loss, which may be regarded as permanent, by the “loser”, shall affect humans in similar ways to that of death.
Any permanent loss or withdrawal from possession may generate a scale of affect that varies in proportion to the degree of value placed upon that possession by the loser.
This degree of possession may be valued and measured only by the loser, being personal to the individual.
To what degree a person holds another person as a possession, may influence the degree of loss experienced at that person’s death.
Not possession in terms of ownership, but reliance placed by the loser upon the lost person and their influence in the loser’s life in terms of regard or necessity.

In this hypothesis, grief, in varying degrees, may, therefore, be a part of any loss.
Loss of love; relationship; employment; independence; self-esteem; lifestyle; family; property or any other valued possession, may generate similar emotive responses within the human body.
Presumably, no animal has similar intellectual capacity.

The “Quantum of Regret” felt by the loser for the lost value may determine the chronic function of the loss and the resultant emotion, grief.

If this Quantum of Regret has chronic value, then within some human personalities an escalation or combination of such regrets may exercise a deleterious effect upon the losers’ physiology.
The Differences in personality and philosophy may determine the extent of this quantum of regret and its affects.
A person having a “natural” view of life, for example, having little regard for possessions, may be less vulnerable to the effects of grief and loss, than someone having a more “human” regard for life, and the need for possessions. This latter may generate an high response to regret following loss.

Within the Parkinson aegis, smokers are less likely to incur the affliction than are non-smokers, [Godwin-Austin, 1997].
This curiosity is not regarded as an incentive to smoke, but rather as the proposition that smokers tend to be more outward looking and aggressive than non-smokers.

Hypothesis, Evolution and Psychosomatics.

Hypotheses abound in the field of evolutionary psychology.
None can be conclusively proven, only allowed to fit as many of the known parameters as possible.
These paradigms of evolution are becoming more interesting as genetic knowledge and information increases and the possibility arises to type certain humans from sources of evolutionary beginnings.

If early human evolution followed that of other creatures, then survival depended upon similar natural requirements of response and instruction, as in the case of other animals.
The senses of thirst, hunger, sleep, sex, and fear arguably would be all that are needed to promote the development of a creature.
Subsidiary evolutionary instincts develop; nest-building, territorial defence, care of young and so on, but all are, in a way, secondary to the main thrust of the organism’s survival.

In human society now, and perhaps for hundreds of thousands of years, too many males of the species have survived.
The hypothetical requirement of natural human society – solely to survive- would require perhaps a ration of one male to twelve females. Perhaps it was that small groups of humans, at the dawn of their evolution, developed among trees and shrubs, which bore fruit, nuts and berries.
There would be no requirement for humans to be hunters or gatherers in such a situation. The simple male task would be in protecting his interests from other predatory males, and mating with females at appropriate times. Possession may have been a male involvement.

The females’ role would require far more cognition than that of the males’.
They it would be who would search out sources of food and water, collectively caring for the young, and keeping the peace within the group. They would arrange that pregnancy became a group matter, so that caring and nurture at beneficial seasons would assist with survival. Male babies may have been more prone to death at parturition that females, in order to keep the balance natural, whilst female infants would be resilient, have different cognitive abilities, and able to withstand the natural shocks of survival. Maternal females may have developed a much stronger bond to male babies, trying to ensure their health.

At some stage in that evolution, because of perhaps ecological or environmental factors, males survived at too great a rate, and, as they did, became a danger to the natural order. Possibly they became ranging, marauding groups, having much more physical power than the original conceptual group, and developed the males’ instincts of possession to much greater lengths, and may have distributed the assets or possessions among the group, as they were acquired, under the rule of a dominant male.

Thus perhaps developed the concepts of “king”, “ruler”, “religion” and the rules of possession; of “one man one woman”, and the possession of the woman by the male, a concept that was potent until very recently in human history, and, even today in some parts of the World, has relevance.

The human animal has succeeded in becoming dominant because of the cognitive and intellectual evolution in the species.
Yet it is possible that the body of the animal is as it was an aeon ago, having only basic and protective functions.
If that should be so, then there exists a problem insofar as the protective systems of the human body are concerned.
Whilst those systems are programmed to defend the structure with natural responses to dangers which are presented by sensual means, they may not have been able to, or had sufficient evolutionary time to, develop the provision of co-ordinated assistance when presented with abstract concepts, such as loss, possession or fear of the future.
The result may be randomised, erratic use of any responses in inappropriate ways, resulting in “distress”.

The sense of possession or belonging is arguable strongest, in human relationship terms, in the parent/child bond.
Human infants require the care of their parents far longer, proportionately, than many creatures, many of which appear to have no further bond beyond the completion of infant nurture.
In humans, this bonding may last a lifetime, and can appear to be an indissoluble attachment.

When death ends this bond, the survivor, or loser, has to manage not only the loss of that bond, but also the co-mingled human concepts of death and loss.

Distress

In humans, the evolution of imagination, which led to the development of abstract concepts, has yet to be proven beyond all doubt, to exist in other creatures. For other creatures, instincts are the nearest approach they may have to the human concept of “the future”. In the human cognitive process, the future plays a dominant rôle.
It is proposed that in the concept of the future exists all distress.
Perhaps it is because of the sheer speed with which the body can adopt responses to stimuli, particularly those representing danger, which may contribute to the distress caused by imaginary or abstract concepts.
Hypothetically, the body’s responses to imagination may be training the human cognitive evolvement by several hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years. The intellectual concepts of human intelligence and cognition cannot be managed by human physiology.
It is upon this conceptual hypothesis that all psychosomatic philosophy is founded.

A human being, if placed in a completely hostile and dangerous environment, would survive, or not, dependant on the ability of that individual to set aside panic, hopelessness, pessimism and distress.

Within an imaginary fearful future, where no dangers can be presented for management by the body’s defences, some action by those defences is required, albeit randomly, dangerously, even fatally.
Human distress may be created by the inability of physiological functions to effectively deal with a “fear” of the future.
How the individual human responds to the body’s reactive measures will affect the outcome of those measures. The individual human response perhaps may be measured by personality and character, which are functions, in some respects, of philosophy.

APPENDIX
Definitions

1. Fear
For the purposes of this study, “fear” is defined as the automatic, protective, instinctive response and reaction in an organism, to stimuli that represent, or are being perceived as, dangerous to that organism, such stimuoli being presented via one of the physiological senses of the perceiver. Fear is regarded as being distinct and separate from anxiety or apprehension.

2. Psychosomatic Medicine [PSM].

PSM is defined as the branch of medicine concerned with the interrelationships between mental and emotional reactions and somatic processes, in particular the manner in which intrapsychic conflicts influence physical symptoms. It maintains that the body and mind are one inseparable entity, and that both physiologic and psychologic techniques should be applied in the study and treatment of illness. [Mosbey’s 1998.].
PSM is therefore, with any modality which involves no invasion of the body. It may include hypnotherapy, counselling and psychotherapies of various derivations.

3. Stress

Stress is defined as physical force[s] placed upon a structure. By example, this applies equally to “concrete stress”, metal stress”, or “tissue stress”.
“Stress”, insofar as animal tissue is concerned, might describe the invasion or contusion of body tissue by a foreign object, or the natural functioning of the appropriate levels of organisation of an animal in a state of fear.
The living organism will probably deal with this invasion, automatically and naturally.
The “effect of stress”, is the reaction of the structure to the forces of stress placed upon it.

4. Distress.

Distress is regarded as the emotive reaction of a human in response to an imagined or cognitive eventuality.
It is argued that distress is a primarily, if not solely, a human response.

REFERENCES
Andrews, G., Hall, W ., Teeson, M., Henderson, S. [1999]. The Mental Health of Australians National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. [2] April. Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services.
Duvoisin, R.C., & Sage, J. [1996]. Parkinson’s Disease. [4th Ed] Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven
Godwin-Austin, R. [1997]. The Parkinson’s Disease Handbook. Sheldon
Kaplan, H.I., Sadock, B.J., Grebb, J.A. [1994]. Synopsis Of Psychiatry [7th Ed]. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.
Mosby’s Medical Dictionary. [1998]. [5th Edition]. P.1349. St. Louis: Times Mirror.
Parkinson’s Australia Magazine. [1997]. Number 4, 15.
Rajendran, P.R., Thompson, E., Reich, S.G. [2001]. The Use of Alternative Therapies by Patients with Parkinson’s Disease. Neurology, 57, 790-794.
Stern, G., & Lees, A. [1993]. Parkinson’s Disease – the Facts. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

ADDENDUM:
CONCLUSIONS

With an eye upon scientific nicety, the conclusion of this study is that there is just the glimmer of an idea. It is possible that more research in this direction, with larger samples and funding, may show that those individuals who are able to regard the world and their place in it with degrees of detachment, and natural responsiveness, may be less likely to fall liable to psychosomatic disorders. Of which one, it is proposed, is Parkinsonism.
It may not be Parkinsonism that is occasionally passed from generation to generation, but rather a personality or characteristic suitable for the development of the disorder.

All research is concerned with translating. Ideas into hypotheses, hypotheses into theories and theories into practice, as safely and efficiently as possible, so that everyone has access to a daily usefulness.
Nausea, lacrimation and salivation are responses easily controlled “manually” by the individual, employing external or auto suggestion. Given practice, experience and assistance, many other, if not all, autonomic functions may be thus controlled.
Psychosomatic medicine has a part to play in the treatment of the underlying condition that promotes the symptoms of distress in the patient, by using methods which have no precautions, contra-indications nor adverse effects when delivered by a trained and experienced practitioner.
Certain patients diagnosed with PD can demonstrate a degree of control over the symptoms, quite independently of pharmaceuticals. Further work in this direction is going on.

There is a connection between the death of a parent and the distress, which, it is proposed, may have led to the disorder, when allied perhaps to other losses in the life experience of the subject. The place of any loss, important to the individual and the regard for it may also be very relevant.

It is believed that the results of this study show that the consequences of Life and its dramas affect every individual. Losses occur in all lives. The link between that probability and an individual’s attitude to distressful events may be an avenue for very rewarding research.

Whilst consideration has to be given that their parents will die at some time, the early demise of parents in the life of an individual may leave an individual in a situation where they are less, or even never, able to manage the loss.

“Natural” personality tendencies, which demonstrate aggression, self-confidence, self-assurance, and general disregard for other human beings, and may be regarded as socially undesirable, may protect the individual from, for example, neurological disorders.

Yet Adolph Hitler, it is said, [“Parkinson’s Australia” Magazine 1997], had Parkinson’s disease. He appeared to be aggressive, arrogant, self assured and so on. However, he had 41 years of his life, [his age 14], without his father, and 37 years, [his age 18], without his mother. Death was never very far from his thoughts and experiences. He was wounded in the First World War, in 1916 at the age of 27, and gassed two years later. From these events he experienced several physical losses.

In a similar example, a young man born in 1929, lost his Mother when he was nine, his beloved brother when he was 11. The death of his father to whom he was devoted, when he was 21 years old, crushed him emotionally, and his experiences in the second World War, of death deportment and cruelty, would have been unbelievably pitiless.
This man survived to become Pope John Paul II. He developed Parkinson’s disease.

Part of this proposal relates to the fact that the human autonomic system has understood and has been dealing with problems of the human body for vast amounts of evolutionary time.

All that has to be achieved is an efficient manner of communication and the creation of psychosomatic pathology appropriate to the disorder.

Within the identification of the Quantum of Regret felt by the individual, in respect ot any loss, and its cumulative chronic effect, may lay much rewarding effort in the treatment of neurological disorders.

BRIAN MAGRATH MARCH 2002 VOL 23 NO 1

Brian Magrath is a member and director of the Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapy, and a director and practising member of the International Institute of Psychosomatic Medicine Pty Ltd.
Brian specialises in psychosomatic therapies, and has a long-term background in counselling, clinical hypnotherapy and meditation. He is interested in research into the efficacy of psychosomatic techniques and how they may be applied in mainstream medicine, thus gaining a much wider acceptance by both medical practitioners and the general public. He is also involved in long-term research work into Parkinson’s disease, and regularly lectures on this and other subjects.

TABLES
TABLE 1
Age and Gender of Study Subjects

TABLE 2
Mean Ages and Gender of PD and Control Subjects

TABLE 3
Distress: Subjects Reporting Distressful Events by Number and Order of Event.

TABLE 4
Depression: The Percentage Prevalence of Clinical Depression for which Medical Treatment has been Sought

Note:

TABLE 5
Each Sample in Study Compared at Comparative ages at Which they Qualified by Reason of Present Age

TABLE 6
Personality

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