Many psychiatric medications can cause tremors as a side effect. But mental health clinicians should not assume that tremors are a side effect of the psychiatric medications. We should not miss common neurological conditions in which tremors are prominent—conditions like Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor, among others.
For our articles on tremors in Parkinson’s disease, please see the following:
What if a tremor is either unilateral or asymmetrical?
What is the tremor in Parkinson’s disease like?
In the article on this page, we will discuss how mental health clinicians can make a provisional clinical diagnosis of essential tremor. Why is this important? Because essential tremor is the most frequent cause of tremors (Lapeña-Motilva et al., 2025). It is present in about 5% of older adults. So, let’s very briefly understand how to differentiate essential tremor from other causes of tremors by looking at the the WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and HOW of the tremors.
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