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Tics and Gilles de la Tourette's Syndrome: A Follow-up Study and Critical Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

J. A. Corbett
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry The Bethlem Royal Hospital and Maudsley Hospital, London, S.E.5
A. M. Mathews
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry The Bethlem Royal Hospital and Maudsley Hospital, London, S.E.5
P. H. Connell
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry The Bethlem Royal Hospital and Maudsley Hospital, London, S.E.5
D. A. Shapiro
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry The Bethlem Royal Hospital and Maudsley Hospital, London, S.E.5

Extract

Tics or habit spasms have been described in various ways, but perhaps the most useful definition is that of Kanner (1937) that they are “quick, sudden and frequently repeated movements of circumscribed groups of muscles, serving no apparent purpose”. Children with this symptom not infrequently present to the paediatrician or child psychiatrist with accompanying symptoms of emotional disturbance, and by the age of seven years approximately five per cent of children have a history of such movements (Kellmer Pringle et al., 1967). Less commonly, adolescents who have suffered with tics from an earlier age develop vocal tics and coprolalia (compulsive swearing) symptomatic of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome. Tiqueurs are rarely seen for treatment in adult life, except in a few well-documented cases where Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome persists (Fernando 1967).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1969 

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