Tourette Syndrome has long been — for better or worse — portrayed or referred to in common culture, but rarely with much commitment to providing complete, honest, or accurate information. If your understanding of Tourette Syndrome comes from Hollywood movies like Boondock Saints, Not Another Teen Movie, Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo, What About Bob? or Jumping Jack Flash, you should update your sources. This brief article aims to provide some straight facts about the diagnosis of Tourette’s Syndrome.
Who Gets Tourette Syndrome and When?
Tourette Syndrome is a nervous system condition that causes people experiencing it to have sudden tics. Those ticks can present as repeated twitches, sounds, or movements. The tics associated with Tourette Syndrome are involuntary and not usually something you can stop yourself from doing (except for brief periods in some cases through intense and exhausting concentration.)
Tourette’s starts in childhood and usually emerges in children between the ages of five and 17. Studies by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that between 0.3 and 0.6% of children have Tourette Syndrome and that roughly half are undiagnosed. The prevalence of Tourette Syndrome in the population is not completely understood due to unreported cases and misdiagnoses.
Tourette Syndrome is three to five times more common in boys than girls. Children between 12 and 17 years old are twice as likely to have Tourette Syndrome than children between six and 11 years old.
What Kinds of Tics are there?
There are two types of tics experienced by people with Tourette Syndrome: motor and vocal tics. Motor tics are involuntary movements such as repeated blinking or twitching. Vocal tics include involuntary repetitive sounds such as words or grunts. In the movies, vocal tics are often present as uncontrolled swearing and profanity. Most people experiencing Tourette’s do not present with cursing tics.
Many people have Tourette Syndrome entirely unbeknownst to others. The symptoms of Tourette Syndrome present in a wide range from nearly invisible to subtle to merely apparent to significant. The fact that someone has Tourette Syndrome is not always apparent to others, depending on the severity of the condition and those symptoms. Two examples of celebrity figures discussing their Tourette Syndrome include singer Billie Eilish and actor Dan Aykroyd.
How is Tourette Syndrome Diagnosed?
The diagnostic criteria for Tourette Syndrome include: having both motor and vocal tics and having had those tics for at least one year, and that those tics occur multiple times a day and nearly every day. Some, but not all, of these symptoms may indicate a condition other than Tourette Syndrome.
Many people diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome also have at least one other psychiatric diagnosis. Common companion diagnoses include obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit disorder.
How is Tourette Syndrome Treated?
Unfortunately, there is no known cure for Tourette Syndrome. There are several forms of treatment for the condition, including:
- Behavioural intervention therapy options (often referred to as CBIT for Cognitive Behavioural Intervention for Tics) that train patients to be aware of their tics, to perform competing behaviours when the urge to tic arises, and to change their daily activities to help to reduce tics.
- Prescription medications for severe tics, though they are not always effective and not always tolerated by patients.
- Experimental neurological procedures such as deep brain stimulation.
- Teaching patients to accept and understand their condition and how to adapt to it while encouraging accommodation by others in the patients’ community.
Psychologist near you is well-trained to support individuals and families experiencing or affected by Tourette Syndrome. If you or any child in your family may be experiencing symptoms of Tourette Syndrome or you’re anxious about any concerning behaviour, reach out to psychologists near you for support.