Tourette Syndrome Introduction

Tourette Syndrome is also referred to as Tourette’s Disorder, Tourette’s, TS and sometimes Tourette Spectrum Disorder.

Tourette Syndrome is best defined in archives and pages of neurological conditions, syndromes, and disorders. Initially Tourette Syndrome was seen as extremely rare and an individual was viewed as having violent muscle contortions (motor tics) and vocal disruptions (vocal tics) combined with outburst of swearing and obscenities. (Tourette history) However Dr. David E. Comings writes in Tourette Syndrome and Human Behavior, "...TS is one of most common genetic conditions affecting humanity and many more carry trait."

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Tourette Syndrome / Tourettes Disorder – TS / TD is a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary body movements and vocal outbursts (Tics) for at least 12 months.

Note there are no longer any requirements for severity or impairment.

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Tourette Syndrome is named after a French physician, Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who first described Tourette it in 1885. Tourette Syndrome commonly appears in childhood, more often in males than females, and may worsen thereafter or subside. The absolute cause of Tourette Syndrome is unknown, nonetheless many theories and advanced information has increased considerably since 1885.

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No cure yet exists, but symptoms are often treatable with various RX medications, behavioral therapy and alternative treatments. It should be noted that there is not any peer reviewed scientific evidence, yet, of success with "alternative therapies." Even results of behavioral therapy are unclear long-term, and are going to be studied on a well-designed TSA grant possibly starting in 2004.

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The "tics" symptoms involving Tourette Syndrome are known to temporarily aggravate with increased stress. Also tics can wax and wane or come and go through out patients life. It is also normal for tics to change and return. Some of Tourette tics can be suppressed for small periods of time, however generally return with greater aggravation. It should also be noted that most persons with Tourette Syndrome do not require medication for their tics.

Neurodevelopmental disorders including Tourette Syndrome can have substantial overlap with other disorders. There is a possibility of common co-morbid conditions found in patients with Tourette Syndrome though they are not required for diagnosis. ("co-morbid" means The presence of one or more disorders (or diseases) in addition to a primary disease or disorder.) Examples are Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder OCD, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD.

All of available information about co-morbid conditions in regard to Tourette Syndrome isn't clear and is considered a complicated subject between clinicians and researchers.

Patients with Tourette's Syndrome who have other conditions as well, may be at increased risk for a whole host of other problems, but many of problems may not be due to Tourette Syndrome but to other conditions they may have.

Some of other conditions and/or terms you may find discused in circles that deal with Tourette Syndrome are: Tourette Syndrome "Plus", Tourette Spectrum Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, Depression Disorders, Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections PANDAS, Sensory Integrative Dysfunction SID, Rage Attacks - Storms, Sleep Disorders, Disinhibition.

There are people with Tourette Syndrome that have no other co-morbid conditions, disorders or problem behaviors. They could be referred to as having "TS-Only." They would meet minimal DSM criteria for Tourettes Disorder.

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One of less common possible symptoms of Tourettes yet most highly publicized would be Coprolalia (outburst of obscenities and curse words).

Coprolalia is actually very uncommon in Tourette Syndrome and is not required for a diagnosis.

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A recent Scientific American article stated: "Though often denigrated as fakery or wishful thinking, hypnosis has been shown to be a real phenomenon with a variety of therapeutic uses -- especially in controlling pain"

Pain is an experience that blights many lives and comes in many forms. Chronic pain is often classified as pain that persists for a period of a month or more beyond normal recovery time of an illness, or pain that persists for several months or years as a result of a chronic condition, and can be of any intensity. Even low-level chronic pain can be debilitating. Acute pain is a short-lived condition within normal experience of an acute illness or injury. Breakthrough pain is a transitory flare of pain of moderate to severe intensity occurring on a background of otherwise controlled pain.

Pain originates in nervous system and clearly has a useful role to play in development of avoidance strategies for situations and experiences that can cause us harm. However, multiple factors can conspire to produce sensation of pain in situations where information is no longer useful. It is obvious that in some injuries and illnesses, brain receives information about pain that person experiencing that pain is able to do very little about in terms of avoiding stimuli. What is not so obvious is that conscious experience of pain is modified by many other factors such as memory, emotion, and physical condition. In other words, experience of pain is determined by context in which that pain takes place. This further complicated by fact that some pain cannot be found to have an organic (disease or injury) related cause at all.

Milton Erickson described pain as a construct that consisted past remembered pain, present pain experience and of anticipated pain in future. These combine to give meaning that pain has for us, and this is one of reasons that chronic pain (of any intensity) can be so debilitating. Nothing will intensify one's experience of pain as much as anticipation that it will be there tomorrow, and day after and so on. Similarly, learning to relax and simply let go of anticipation and fear can result in remarkable changes in our experience of pain.

As a child, I suffered several bouts of recurring osteomyelitis, a bone marrow infection that was often accompanied by high fever and severe pain. The pain persisted as a result of deformations of bone that took place and necessary surgery, but I learned very early on that I could alter my own experience of pain through what I considered back then to be a number of mental tricks. I did not know what I know now about nature of pain but I was able to effect some remarkable changes to my experience of pain, which laid foundations for my current understanding of nature of experience.

So, let's look at a few techniques that we can use to experience pain differently, and take some control over how it affects our lives.

Relaxation and Trance