Distinguishing between compulsions and complex tics

The answer is not simple. Often the answer is obvious–always washing your hands 5 times is a compulsion. Yelling “What’s that?!” many times a day because it just feels like you have to is a complex tic. Even when the phenomenology is less classic, one can usually tell them apart by asking why the person […]

TAA statement on PANDAS

The Tourette Association of America’s PANDAS/PANS Workgroup has issued a public statement about PANDAS. It succinctly summarizes the current state of evidence about this controversial diagnosis. A recommended read for anyone interested.

Tic Talk 2020 initial survey results

Below is a brief summary of the results from the first 21 people to take the survey. If you haven’t already responded, we’d love your input to help us design Tic Talk 2020 by taking this short 5-question survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8XT6Z7K Topics you are interested in: Tics and school: 76% How psychological factors or situations influence tics: […]

Help us plan content for Tic Talk 2020

Tic Talk 2020 is on! Saturday, May 2, 2020, at Wash. U. School of Medicine. We want to hear from you about what topics we should cover. Please take this short 5-question survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8XT6Z7K Thank you!

Results from chapter grants survey, 10/2018

The results are in! We collected 33 votes (see “Oops” below to check whether your vote counted). We will use this information to guide our application to TAA. Stay tuned by connecting with the chapter or following the WashU Tics page on Facebook or @NewTics on Twitter.  Background The Tourette Association of America (TAA), in partnership with the […]

“Rage attacks” in children with tics

A couple of our recent study volunteers had serious problems with what you could variously call sudden tantrums, explosive outbursts, or brief violence. Of course, kids with tics can have all the problems anyone else can have. But about 1 in 5 children with Tourette syndrome have experiences that have been called “rage attacks.” These rage […]