In the early 20th century, during the end of World War I, the perplexing disease Encephalitis Lethargica (EL) struck the world. Millions of people were left to die, and others less fortunate continued to live, trapped in their frozen, emotionless bodies. EL causes inflammation of the brain, targeting the brainstem, which houses critical motor components such as the basal ganglia and Substantia Nigra. As it progresses, patients experience stiffness, muscle twitching, and tremors similar to parkinsonism. The current theory on the cause of EL is due to an immune reaction to strep-like bacteria. The movie "Awakenings" is a good representation of the physiological effects of the disorder but fails to portray the severity of the psychological problems surrounding EL. Patients who survived the acute effects of the disease developed significant chronic symptoms in subsequent years. This was the case with the film's main patient, Leonard Lowe, who had the misfortune of contracting the disease at a young age. The symptoms progressed and left him in a catatonic state along with other survivors. Towards the beginning of the film most of the patients, including Leonard, are seen immobile in wheelchairs with a lack of expression on their faces. This accurately resembles the state in which most patients with that disorder are left. One of the key components damaged in EL is the basal ganglia (BG). An important structure in the BG is the caudate putamen, which extends into the temporal lobe and amygdala. If the caudate putamen is damaged, unwanted choreiforms (writhing and twitching) occur. Damage to the substantia nigra causes hyperkinetic symptoms seen in patients with EL and parkinsonism. Likewise, an important project... middle of paper... could be greatly improved by describing some patients who have forgotten who they are. In one study, it is suggested that “short-term memory loss is common but underestimated because psychiatric symptoms and language problems often interfere with memory assessment. Another important role of the basal ganglia, as mentioned in the lecture notes, is its importance in speech production.” . We see this clearly as Leonard is slowly regressing to the previous stage, he can no longer formulate a speech and has difficulty pronouncing every word clearly. Works Cited http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health /3930727.stm http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17675021 http://courses.washington.edu/ conj/bess/parkinsons/parkinsons.html http://www.encephalitis.info/ files/1113/3993/2124/encephalitis_lethargic.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987703003189