Tourette's: Isn't it neurological and not psychological?

Post Reply New Topic

The title of this forum seems incorrect. Isn't tourette's neurological instead of psychological?

That's a difficult question to answer, even for experts in this area and there is no clear cut off between those two, because psychological and neurological problems both have their origin in the brain.
One of the reasons why Tourette-Syndrom is officially listed in the psychological disoders, both in the DSM and in the ICD, is because it has a hughe variety of psychological comorbidities, so even if you consider Tourette as neurological, it goes along in nearly all cases with psychological problems and that's the mainreason why it is grouped there. Personally I think the difference between neurological and psychological is not that important because they are both in the human brain and in many cases hard to differentiate.

I think it is considered psychological because the way that it feels feels like something is wrong, and ticcing will fix it.

This is just my opinion.

Yes, Tourette is strongly associated with OCD. It's even considered that it's part of the OCD spectrum.

Here from a side about Tourette:

"Overall, based on research and experience, the following are conditions parents of young children with TS need to be alert to (adapted from Packer & Pruitt, 2010):
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Obsessive-Compulsive symptoms or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Visual-motor integration problems (including fine motor control, copying from the board, and handwriting)
Anxiety disorders
Speech dysfluencies (e.g., stuttering or cluttering)
Sensory defensiveness
Self-injurious tics
Sleep problems
PANDAS (when Strep infection worsens tics)
Depression (especially if ADHD, OCD, or anxiety disorders are already present)
Bipolar Disorder (especially if ADHD and/or OCD are already present)
Learning disabilities
Executive Dysfunction (if other comorbid conditions are present)
Working memory deficits (especially when other comorbid conditions are present)
“Rage Attacks” (especially when other comorbid conditions are present)

[...] They reported that the TS patients were significantly more likely to have a personality disorder, and that many of the patients had more than one personality disorder. Their data indicate that about half of the adult TS patients had Borderline Personality Disorder and were also significantly more likely to have other personality disorders: Avoidant, Depressive, Obsessive-Compulsive, Paranoid, and Passive-Aggressive."

http://www.tourettesyndrome.net/disorders/tourette’s-syndrome/overview-of-tourettes-syndrome/

__________________

I've a tic disorder and from this list I have:

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Sensory defensiveness
Self-injurious tics
Sleep problems
Depression (especially if ADHD, OCD, or anxiety disorders are already present)
Learning disabilities
Executive Dysfunction (if other comorbid conditions are present)
Working memory deficits (especially when other comorbid conditions are present)
“Rage Attacks” (especially when other comorbid conditions are present)

Propably schizotypal pd with paranoid features oh and of course HFA.
Also some anxiety and OCD symptoms are present.

Last edited by Raziel on 05 Jan 2014, 2:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

and here from another side:

"Only 1 in 10 patients with Tourette syndrome has no other behavioral problems, as evidenced by studies in both epidemiological and clinical settings.
[...]
ADHD affects as many as 60% to 80% of patients with Tourette syndrome.
[...]
OCD is thought to affect from 11% to 80% of patients with Tourette syndrome. OCD and Tourette syndrome are intimately related and share similar characteristics.
[...]
Affective disorders are common among patients with Tourette syndrome; the lifetime risk is 10% and prevalence ranges from 1.8% to 8.9%.
[...]
The most frequent personality disorders are borderline, depressive, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid, passive-aggressive, avoidant, and schizoid types. One study found that 15% of the 102 patients with Tourette syndrome fulfilled diagnostic criteria for schizotypal personal-ity disorder, best predicted by high obsessional and anxiety ratings."

http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/article ... e-syndrome