When facing an illness that has no decisive cure, patients, their family members, and doctors need to follow a long and demanding path. What exactly is Parkinson's Disease? What are its symptoms? How can one handle the illness? This book describes the disease's distinct stages (from its initial symptoms to the appearance of stiffness and tremours, including other clinical signs such as depression and sleep disorders), diagnostic procedures, therapies, as well as strategies that may be enacted by relatives and care-givers in order to make patients' lives less strenuous. The authors also address potential future developments and relevant research topics. The text also comprises a glossary and other information to help readers find their way among the many associations and websites that deal with the disease and its implications.

Ildebrando Appollonio, a neurologist, teaches Nervous System Diseases at the University of Milan-Bicocca and heads the San Gerardo Hospital Cognitive Disorders Centre in Monza.

Marco Trabucchi teaches Neuropsychopharmacology at the Tor Vergata University in Rome and is the scientific director of the Geriatrics Research Group in Brescia.