Objective: To compare self-reported symptoms of (romantic) jealousy and impulse control disorders (ICD) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients to those reported by their partners.

Background: ICDs are common in PD patients. There have been also few reports of exaggerated jealousy in PD patients1. It seems that both, ICD and jealousy are still under-recognized, which is probably related to these symptoms being either concealed or underestimated by the patients2.

Method: 27 PD patients (9 females, mean age 66.22±7.48, mean disease duration 6.72±5.08, mean levodopa equivalent daily dose – LEDD 718.317±420.38) and their partners (N=27, 18 females, mean age 63.30±9.14) participated in the study. Slovenian versions of the Questionnaire for Impulsive Compulsive Disorders (QUIP), Multidimensional (romantic) jealousy scale (MJS), Zuckerman-Kuhlman personality questionaire (ZKPQ-50cc), Barrat Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and Starkstein Apathy Sclae (SAS) were adiminstered to the patients and their partners who were asked to assess the behaviour of the patients.

Results: Compared to their partners, PD patients reported being more jealous on the MJS-emotional jealousy subscale (p<0.001); on the contrary, partners reported patients being more jealous on the MJS-behavioural subscale (p=0.031); there was no difference in the reports between patients and their partners on the MJS-cognitive jealousy subscale. In addition there was no significant difference between patients self-assessment and their partners assessment on QUIP, BIS-11 and ZKPQ-50cc. MJS subscales did not correlate to LEDD, BIS-11, GDS or SAS. However, all MJS subscales positively correlated to the neuroticism-anxiety personality factor (ZKPQ-50cc) (all p<0.05). The behavioural and cognitive subscales also correlated to the aggression-hostility personality factor (ZKPQ-50cc) (all p<0.05).

Conclusion: While patients self-reported a higher emotional jealousy score, partners reported higher scores for the patients on the behavioural jealousy subscale of the MJS. In addition to neuroticism, which has already been related to jealousy3, known aggression-hostility personality factor correlated to the behavioural jealousy. More studies are needed to further explore the nature of this phenomenon in PD patients.

References: 1. Georgiev D, Danieli A, Ocepek L, et al. Othello syndrome in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Psychiatr Danub 2010;22(1):94-98. 2. Baumann-Vogel H, Valko PO, Eisele G, Baumann CR. Impulse control disorders in Parkinson’s disease: don’t set your mind at rest by self-assessments. European journal of neurology 2015;22(4):603-609. 3. Wade TJ, Walsh H. Does the big-5 relate to jelousy, or infidelity reactions? Journal of Social, Evolutionary and Cultural Psychology 2008;2(3):133-143.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/impulse-control-disorders-and-romantic-jealousy-in-parkinsons-disease-a-patients-vs-partners-perspective/