Parkinson's disease is the world's fastest growing brain disorder, and exposure to environmental toxicants is the principal reason. In this paper, we consider alternative, but unsatisfactory, explanations for its rise, including improved diagnostic skills, aging populations, and genetic causes. We t …
Saying you get Parkinson’s disease from anti psychotics is a gross over simplification that is basically untrue. Yes they are dopamine depleting drugs, so some of the side effects (which unfortunately can persist even after stopping the drugs in some cases when used over extended periods) are similar to symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Usually doctors will use the word “parkinsonism” to make clear they mean some of the movement symptoms from dopamine depletion like Parkinson’s disease, but not Parkinson’s itself.
Parkinson’s disease is caused by the toxic buildup of alpha synuclein bodies in many different centers of the brains, including centers that make dopamine but many more as well, eventually resulting in severe dementia in the end. That is not what is happening when people who take anti psychotic medications get parkinsonism symptoms.
The terminology gets quite confusing, but just want to be clear that while anti psychotic medications can sometimes cause Parkinson’s like symptoms (parkinsonism), it is not a cause of Parkinson’s disease itself.
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1353-8020(14)00214-4