Dedicated to help those with Tourette Syndrome and Tic Disorders

This standard Tourette Syndrome treatment is 8 sessions over 10 weeks, but can be longer or shorter depending on the individual needs of the patient and his or her family.

 

Awareness Training:

The first step in CBIT Therapy is awareness training, teaching the patient to become more aware of their premonitory urge, the sensation one feels prior to the tic. This is important so that the patient can implement the therapy once they feel their urge to tic. It is important to know to never make a person with Tourette Syndrome aware of their tics if they are NOT undergoing CBIT Therapy. In these cases it is best to ignore tics, since the individual feels that they can not control it, and awareness then can lead to stress, resulting in an increase of tics. However, if a patient with Tourettes or a Tic Disorder is undergoing CBIT Therapy, and is trained to manage their tics when they are aware of their urge, they should feel empowered and in control of their tics, resulting in a positive outcome.

 

Competing Response:

The patient is taught to perform a specific behavior that makes the tic more difficult to do, as soon as the tic or urge appears. This “competing response” helps to reduce, and in some cases, even eliminate the tic. For example, a youngster with a frequent throat clearing tic would be taught to engage in slow rhythmic breathing whenever he felt the urge to clear his throat. A competing response chosen for a head-shaking tic might be gently tensing the head or neck muscles. Consistent and repeated practice of a carefully chosen competing response done at the appropriate time is necessary for the treatment to be effective.

 

Functional intervention (FI):

FI is based on the fact that certain situations or reactions to tics can make them worse than they might otherwise be. The goal of FI is to identify these situations and have the patient and family attempt to change them so the tics are not made worse unnecessarily. For example, someone whose tics get worse when doing homework or before a presentation at work would be taught to manage their stress through relaxation techniques before and during these situations.

 

The goal of CBIT treatment for Tourette Syndrome is to have the patient feel the ability to control and manage the tics, therefore reducing, or even possibly eliminating, the stress of having tics and/or the tic itself.

 

Although CBIT is not called a cure for Tourette Syndrome, clinical studies show that those who undergo CBIT therapy have the same, if not greater, reduction of tics than those who are on medications for Tourette syndrome. Dana's goal is to have each of her patients use this therapy as often as possible to hopefully "retrain" the brain that the patient does not need to perform the tic and to hopefully eliminate/reduce the urge.