Yale Researchers Studying Behavior Therapy for Tourette Syndrome
New Haven, CT — January 24, 2008
Two multi-site studies are underway to examine the effectiveness of behavior therapy to reduce tics in people with Tourette syndrome.
Larry Scahill, MSN, PhD, Professor at Yale University School of Nursing and the Yale Child Study Center, is one of the principal investigators in these studies that include both children and adults. The goal of these studies is determine whether a technique known as Habit-Reversal Training (HRT) is more effective than supportive counseling for reducing tics. Yale is actively recruiting adults with TS to participate in this study.
“It is likely that HRT works for some people with Tourette syndrome,” commented Dr. Scahill. “These studies will determine who is most likely to respond to this therapy. This effort is unique. For the first time, we will be evaluating a treatment for TS across the lifespan.”
Tourette syndrome is a neurological condition that begins in childhood and may persist into adulthood. Once considered a quite rare and uniformly a severe condition, it is now clear that Tourette syndrome (TS) is more common occurs in an estimated 6 children per 1000. The hallmark symptoms of TS are motor and vocal tics such as repetitive blinking, facial twitches, head and shoulder jerking, repetitive throat clearing, grunting, snorting or other noises. TS is often portrayed in movies as accompanied by swearing and uncontrollable outbursts. In fact, only a minority of cases have these more spectacular tics. For many years, the only treatments for the tics were medications.
“Treating Tourette syndrome with meds is less than ideal, because of the potential for adverse effects” added Dr. Scahill. “HRT has been around for many years, but it has not been carefully tested.”
To carry out these two studies, Scahill and colleagues obtained two grants from the National Institute of Mental Health that total $ 7 million. Six research universities are working with the Tourette Syndrome Association to investigate the benefits of HRT, including Yale, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, UCLA, and the University of Texas at San Antonio. This multisite consortium is also developing a “how to” manual for HRT that will be available to psychologists, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners and other health professionals in the near future.
In addition to his work in TS, Dr. Scahill is also actively involved in treatment research for children with autism.
