Can Self-Hypnosis Help Tourette Patients Control Tics? – Yahoo! News

TUESDAY, July 13 (HealthDay News) — Children and young adults
with Tourette syndrome can gain control over their involuntary tics
through self-hypnosis, a small new study suggests.

But a specialist in the condition said the research is too preliminary
to indicate whether the strategy actually works.

In the study, reported in the July/August issue of the Journal of
Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, researchers used a video to
teach 33 people aged 6 to 19 how to relax through self-hypnosis. The
participants all had the tics caused by Tourette syndrome.

“Once the patient is in his or her highly focused 'special place,' work
is then done on controlling the tic. We ask the patient to imagine the
feeling right before that tic occurs and to put up a stop sign in front of
it, or to imagine a tic switch that can be turned on and off like a light
switch,” study co-author Dr. Jeffrey Lazarus, formerly of the Case Western
Reserve University School of Medicine and now in private practice, said in
a news release from the journal's publisher.

Of the participants, 26 (79 percent) experienced what the researchers
called a dramatic increase in their ability to control their tics after
two to four sessions.

In an interview, Tourette specialist and University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee psychology professor Douglas W. Woods said other
factors besides the hypnosis training could explain the improvement in the
patients. In many cases, tics go away on their own, he said.

Other strategies besides the “wait and see” approach include
medications and therapy designed to teach patients how to control their
tics, Woods said. He co-authored a recent study that showed the value of
that technique, known as comprehensive behavioral intervention for
tics.

“Maybe hypnosis could be shown to be effective in treating tics down
the road, but I don't think this study does that,” Woods stated.

More information

For more on Tourette syndrome, try the U.S. National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

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