Dataset for: Getting Back on Track: Intuitive Self-regulation as an Antidote to Freezing in Parkinson´s Disease

Due to the lack of curative approaches for Parkinson’s disease, patients’ self-regulatory abilities are an important resource in dealing with symptoms. According to action control theory, we differentiated intuitive self-regulation from conscious self-control and tested their effects on the progression of freezing of gait. In a sample of N = 37 patients with Parkinson’s disease, intuitive self-regulation predicted decreases in freezing of gait, whereas conscious self-control predicted increases over 2–3 months. Furthermore, patients with high explicit but low implicit achievement motives showed increases in freezing of gait. Finally, this incongruence between explicit and implicit achievement strivings acted as a hidden stressor that partially mediated the relationship between self-regulation and freezing of gait. Our findings show that psychological processes significantly predicted symptom progression in freezing. A purely biological view on freezing would miss this complexity. We propose action control theory as a guide for research and recommend promoting intuitive self-regulation as an antidote to freezing. We realized the present pilot study thanks to an encouragement award from the Hilde Ulrich Foundation for Parkinson's Research to the first author and chairperson of this network. unknown