Oliver Sacks was a British neurologist who worked in the United States and believed the brain was incredibly complex. In the 1960s, he sought permission to treat a group of catatonic patients in a Bronx hospital with L-Dopa, a drug used for Parkinson's disease, speculating it could help their extreme rigidity. Administering L-Dopa to the patients, who had survived an 1917-1928 epidemic of encephalitis that severely reduced dopamine production, had beneficial effects and revived them from their catatonic states temporarily, as depicted in the film Awakenings based on Sacks' work.

1. Oliver Sacks
British neurologist & author who spent his professional life in the USA.
He believed that the brain is the "most incredible thing in the universe."

2. Awakenings
• The story of a doctor's
extraordinary work in the
1960s with a group of
catatonic patients he
finds languishing in a
Bronx hospital.
Speculating that their rigidity
may be akin to an extreme
form of Parkinsonism, he seeks
permission from his skeptical
superiors to treat them with L-
dopa, a drug that was used to
treat Parkinson's disease at the
time.

3. Catatonic
•Condition characterized by
muscular stiffness and mental
stupor
•Appearing to be in a daze or stupor;
unresponsive

4. True Story…
• Dr. Malcolm Sayer (portrayed by Robin Williams),
who, in 1969, discovered beneficial effects of the
drug L-Dopa.
• He administered it to catatonic patients who
survived the 1917–28 epidemic of encephalitis

6. Encephalitis
•sleepy sickness, or sleeping sickness
•severely reducing their ability to
produce the chemical nerve impulse
transmitter dopamine

10. Black floor tiles
Walking forward

12. Film Case Study: Awakenings
•Writing
Assignment due
Friday:February
7th
• 3 paragraph response to essay
prompt of your choice
• Either handwritten or sent
electronically to
Kbolinsky@nasd.k12.pa.us