Response of major depression and Tourette's syndrome to ECT: a case report

There have been few published reports on the use of electroconvulsive therapy in the treatment of Tourette's syndrome. We present a case of a woman with preexisting Tourette's syndrome, which had been latent for some years, that was exacerbated with the onset of a major depressive episode. Both the tics and the depressive symptoms completely remitted after eight sessions of electroconvulsive therapy. Possible mechanisms of this effect are discussed.