Research Article The Lived Experiences of Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Suzette Shahmoon , 1 Jonathan A. Smith , 2 and Marjan Jahanshahi 1,3 1 UCL Institute of Neurology, Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Queen Square, London, UK 2 Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London, London, UK 3 e Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China Correspondence should be addressed to Marjan Jahanshahi; m.jahanshahi@ucl.ac.uk Received 21 August 2018; Accepted 13 November 2018; Published 3 February 2019 Academic Editor: Jan Aasly Copyright © 2019 Suzette Shahmoon et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) is an effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this study, we used an interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore how 10 male people with PD experienced life after STN-DBS surgery. Two themes emerged. e first, “Healed and relieved: all that glitters is not gold,” highlights the benefits and the personal “costs” of surgery. e second, “e change within: new interpretations of the present and future unfold,” explores how patients reinterpreted their lives as individuals and members of society in the present and as they face their future. Relief, gratitude, disappointment, and the need for social support are expressed as well as a new appraisal of values and the future. STN-DBS alters the life course of people with PD, and this study provides new insight into psychological and social issues that surgery raises for the patient and their family system. ese psychosocial issues should be taken into account when preparing the patient and their family for surgery or supporting them postoperatively. 1. Introduction Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive, chronic disorder characterized by tremor, rigidity, muscle stiffness, and gait problems [1]. When symptoms of PD become harder to treat with medication and medication-induced side effects emerge, deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is an effective treatment for the motor symptoms of moderate/severe PD [2–4]. e aim of surgery is to improve the quality of life (QoL) of people with PD by improving the motor symptoms [5]. erefore, current STN-DBS literature focuses heavily on outcome measures for improvement of the motor symptoms such as the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale and quality of life such as the PDQ39 [6]. ese scales have been useful in quantifying the positive changes heralded by surgery but are not sensitive enough to show how these remarkable improvements affect the lived experience of the person with PD. ey do not show how the changes pro- duced by DBS impacts on experiential and inner life of the patients, which can be evaluated through qualitative re- search. Qualitative studies can inform professionals on how to better prepare individuals and their families for surgery and how to support them better after the operation. To date, only a few qualitative studies have assessed the lived experience of people with PD after DBS surgery. Most of the studies have focused on psychosocial adjustment (for review, see [7, 8]), the experience of surgery [9], or the relief surgery brings [10, 11]. In these studies, the patients interviewed have com- mented on how DBS has changed the way they feel about themselves, with some feeling dehumanized by the implanted electrodes and stimulating device [12–14]. Others found DBS had removed their impetus to live, as they no longer had a disease to fight [15, 16]. Marital breakdown occured as a result of surgery due to spouses feeling liberated Hindawi Parkinson’s Disease Volume 2019, Article ID 1937235, 7 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/1937235