TOURETTE SYNDROME Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

TOURETTE SYNDROME - Essay Example The purpose of the paper is to identify and describe the most typical causes and symptoms of TS, explain how it affects a patient psychologically and describe current treatment methods and medication applied to patients with TS. Speech and language difficulties have also been implicated. Recent research has focused on linguistic aspects of vocal tics, suggesting that such tics do not occur randomly but are located according to the clausal boundaries or at points of low information within sentences. Other research indicates word finding and speech volume regulation difficulties. The incidence of TS appears to be unrelated to race or socioeconomic status, although individuals of Jewish or East European heritage may be more commonly affected. People with these origins may have a greater genetic predisposition toward TS, but it seems more likely that referral bias and other cultural factors affect the expression and tolerance of the symptoms. There is no apparent relation of TS to birth weight, birth order, parental age, medical history of individuals or families, or psychiatric history. TS is understood generically to be a complex tic disorder with a lifelong course. A triad of components is necessary to make the diagnosis; the presence of generalized tics and involuntary utterances that may be obscene or suggestive, onset in childhood, and a course that involves a fluctuation of signs throughout the life span but typically is not severely disabling (Heyman and Chowdhury, 2004). The factors that influence the continuity of tic disorders from childhood to adol escence to adulthood are not well understood. Researchers (Waltz, 2001) assume that there is probably an interaction between maturation of the central nervous system and emotional distress along the maturational course. Environmental factors (e.g., toxins and infections) and genetic factors have been cited as possible etiologic factors in this group of disorders. Also, â€Å"and physical exhaustion will