Tics and Tourette syndrome

Tourette syndrome is a childhood onset neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by multiple motor and vocal tics. Although many youth experience attenuation or even remission of tics in adolescence and young adulthood, some individuals experience persistent tics, which can be debilitating or disabling. Most patients also have 1 or more psychiatric comorbid disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Treatment is multimodal, including both pharmacotherapy and cognitive-behavioral treatment, and requires disentanglement of tics and the comorbid symptoms.