Living with Huntington's Disease : Challenges, Perspectives and Quality of Life

The book first discusses the variety of sleep disorders in Huntington''s Disease, as well as how sleep quality can be associated with other important clinical symptoms. Although Huntington''s disease is categorised as a movement disorder, the wide range of non-motor symptoms including cognitive impairment and behavioural abnormalities are considered by patients and their caregivers to be just as disabling as the motor symptoms. As such, the authors explore the importance of symptomatic treatment of Huntington''s disease-related symptoms. Following this, the emotional and communicational issues in Huntington''s disease and their interrelations are examined, including depressive symptomatology, anxiety, helplessness or anger, as well as verbal and non-verbal communication and assistive technology. Lastly, the authors describe current trends and efforts in gene therapy techniques and the improvements in health conditions of Huntington''s disease patients and their families.