[Apropos of Gilles de la Tourette's disease]

The observation of a young north african afflicted with a tic disorder suggests an underlying meaning in the apparently confused motoric discharges, thanks to psychodrama and to ethnopsychoanalytic consultations with the family. Thus, at a time when the Gilles de La Tourette syndrome is described as a neurological disorder, while recognizing the limited utility of chemotherapy, we believe that neurobiological studies, whatever their merit, do not exempt us from thinking about the specific psychopathology of tics and their evolving relationship with neurotic symptoms. That is, to go from motor discharge to the elaboration of conflicts.