[Care continuity for patients with tic disorders during transition from childhood to adulthood]

Chronic tic disorders including Tourette syndrome are defined as disorders with tics continuing for over a year. Although a substantial portion of patients with chronic tic disorders have improvement or remission of their tics until adulthood, some of them still have necessity to receive treatment for tic disorders in adulthood. Regardless of age and severity of tics, basic treatment for tic disorders consists of psycho-education and family guidance which encourage patients and people around them to understand, accept and cope with tics appropriately. In most of the adult cases with tic disorders who require aggressive treatment, tics and/or comorbidities including obsessive-compulsive symptoms are so severe that they usually have medication including antipsychotics.