Exploring the Disorder, Tourette Syndrome

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Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder first described by a French physician named Georges Gilles de la Tourette, in 1885. Tourette syndrome (TS) consists of varies abrupt, rapid, involuntary, and repeated movements or vocal sounds, known as tics. “Until 1970, TS was frequently misdiagnosed as schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, epilepsy, or nervous habits,” concluding that this mental disorder is extremely rare and has similar characteristics as other mental disorders (Kahn and Fawcett 375). Since there is no specific test that can diagnose TS, doctors have to rely on a person’s behaviors and personal history to identify the disorder. About one person in two thousand people is likely to have TS; additionally males are four times more likely to have TS than females. Though the exact origins of TS are unknown and there is no known way to prevent it, numerous scientists believe that TS is an effect of a chemical disproportion in the brain or a genetically inherited disorder.

Symptoms of TS mostly begin during childhood ages of seven through ten. Some of the factors that increase the risk of a person having TS are having a family history of the disorder or other tic disorders, and or a premature birth. It can affect people of all races and ethnicity. Motor tics usually start to appear prior to the vocal tics. Even though there is no cure to the disease, a person can live an extremely normal life span with TS, and people with TS do not need any special treatments unless the symptoms are bothersome. Many times children often outgrow TS after their adolescence. Victims of TS often use medications to reduce the frequent outbursts of their tics. Tics can be categorized in two ways: simple tics and complex tics. The simp...

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...ce is needed to operate a healthy body, thus everyone should always practice these behaviors even if they suffer from a mental disorder, like Tourette syndrome.

Works Cited
Ada, Kahn, and Fawcett Jan. "Tourette Syndrome." The Encyclopedia of Mental Health. New York, NY: Facts On File Inc., 1993. Print.

"Famous People with Tourettes Syndrome." Disabled World - Health and Disability Community News. 2009. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. .

Izenburg, Neil. "Tourette Syndrome." Human Diseases and Conditions. Vol. 3. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000. 861-64. Print.

Landau, Elaine. Tourette syndrome. New York: Franklin Watts, 1998. Print.

"Tourette syndrome." MayoClinic.com. Mayo Fountation for Medical Education and Research, 8 May 2008. Web. 22 Oct. 2009. .

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