Dr. Melita Petrossian is a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders. When most people hear that term, they think of Parkinson’s disease. But Dr. Petrossian sees a number of patients with what’s known as essential tremor, a condition that’s often mistaken for Parkinson’s. It affects eight million Americans, far more than suffer from Parkinson’s. The brain has “tremor generators” that help us move. The tremor is natural, but the cerebellum smooths it out, like the steady cam features on our phones, so we don’t shake. Babies often jerk their limbs because the cerebellum hasn’t mastered the task. In cases of essential tremor, the cerebellum loses the ability to do that work. Listen to this episode to find out why the condition is called “essential” and how Dr. Petrossian helps alleviate the symptoms for people who have it.