Tourette Syndrome
Tourette Syndrome, or TS, affects approximately one hundred thousand Americans of whom you will find in a variety of professions and social settings (7). It is a neurological disease which is characterized by repeated and involuntary body movements and vocal sounds. Before TS was known to be a health problem uncontrollable by the patient, it was seen as nervousness, possession by a spirit, epilepsy or simply as bad habits (5). Today it is known that imbalances in certain brain chemicals are what causes the symptoms of this disease. It is interesting to examine TS and use it as a tool for better understanding (in part) how, in what quantity, and at what level the brain (and the nervous system as a whole) contribute to and influence behavior.
Tourette Syndrome is an inherited neurological disorder. While it can be, and very often is, affected by environmental factors, it is at its roots a product of a dominant genetic mutation. The symptoms, which can vary >from patient to patient in kind and severity, usually appear before the age of eighteen; some include eye blinking, repeated throat clearing, sniffing, arm thrusting, kicking, vocalized obscenities or jumping (2). This disease affects all ethnic groups and males three to four times more than females. The symptoms actually tend to lessen, not worsen, with age (6).
Other conditions usually associated with TS are ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) which can also be manifestations of TS (2). These are psychological and behavioral difficulties which border on neurology and psychiatry. Also, other mental disorders such as anxiety and depression may develop not as a direct product of TS, but rather the s...
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WWW Sources
1)Gilles De La TouretteSyndrome
http://academic.csubak.edu/~A02143/tourettes.html
2)Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc.
http://tsa.mgh.harvard.edu/
3)What Makes Tics Tick? Clues Found In Tourette Twins' Caudates
http://www.cmhc.com/articles/tics.htm
4)Home Page of Latitudes: A Publication of the Association for Comprehensive Neuro Therapy
http://www.latitudes.org/
5)Guide to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Tourette Syndrome
http://www.mentalhealth.com/book/p40-gtor.html
6)The alt.support.tourette pre-FAQ
http://www.mentalhealth.com/book/p40-gtor.html
7)Brain Briefings: Tourette's Syndrome and Dopamine
http://www.sfn.org/briefings/tourettes.html
8)Virtual Hospital: Medical Treatment of Tourette Syndrome
http://www.vh.org/adult/patient/psychiatry/tourettesyndrome/TSMed.html
Tourette syndrome is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and phonic tics usually starting in childhood and often accompanied by poor impulse control (Chiu, 2013, p.405). The disorder is named for Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette, the pioneering French neurologist who in 1885 first described the condition in an 86-year-old French woman (ninds.nih.gov, 2013). Tourette syndrome was once considered to be a rare a condition that causes a person to make repeated, quick movements or sounds that they cannot control. These movements or sounds are called tics, but this symptom is only present in a minority of cases.
Darien is a patient who possibly displays comorbidity. His symptoms lead me to believe that he could possibly be diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Darien’s symptoms that point to OCD are that he has rituals he must complete and if he does not he becomes anxious and is unable to continue with his day. He is however aware that these rituals are not actually helping him but he cannot stop doing them. He also reports feeling anxious most of the day, especially if he cannot perform his rituals, and that he is becoming increasingly more anxious. He is also unable to keep himself from worrying and feeling anxious.
One out of every 360 children have Tourettes. Tourette’s is a neurological disorder, which means that it takes place in the nervous system. It affects males three to four times more than females. There’s no exact known reason as to why. Symptoms begin at ages three to nine, and typically, the first sign is excessive blinking. This
Nonspeech signs associated with hypokinetic dysarthria may include characteristics dealing with the face, eyes, hands, arms, and trunk. The individual may have an expressionless look to their face as well as weakness with gestures in the hands, arms, and face that would normally match the person’s prosody when speaking. Overall, their social interaction with others can be emotionless. Eye blinking occurs less frequently than normal and their head gaze does not match where their eyes are looking. These patients swallow infrequently which leads to drooling. A tremor may be present in the jaw, lips, and tongue as well as limited movement during speech even though strength of these structures is often normal.
Tourette’s syndrome is a disorder where the affected individual will consistently exhibit “tics”. In the majority of cases these ticks are minor in character, it may just be the urge to blink, or make certain facial gestures. Less than 15% of individuals exhibit coprolalia, which is the unwarranted exclamations of profanities or other socially forbidden remarks. Perhaps those in our generation who are aware of Tourette’s syndrome have learned its symptoms through pop culture, which has glamorized (to some extent) the more severe cases of Tourette’s syndrome in YouTube videos or the animated satire of South Park. Most with Tourette’s syndrome have been diagnosed 5-8 years in childhood and experience the waning of the number and severity of tics by the time the graduate high school. For the most part, Tourette’s syndrome alone will not prevent an individual from success in the institutions of society, as it doesn’t affect the intelligence or capability of individuals. These cases, often called pure TS cases, are usually the exception. More often than not, sufferers of Tourette’s syndrome are more limited socially by common comorbid conditions like obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.
Trujillo, K. M., Tracing the Roots of Mathematics Anxiety through In-Depth Interviews with Preservice Elementary Teachers http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCR/is_2_33/ai_62839422 [accessed July 2007]
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a disease that afflicts up to six million Americans, however all its characteristics are yet to be fully understood. Its causes, triggers, attributes, and variations are still unknown although effective medicines exist to treat the symptoms. OCD is a very peculiar disease as Rapoport discusses it comes in many different forms and have different symptoms yet have many similarities. One sure aspect is that it appears, or at least its symptoms do, out of the blue and is triggered either by stressful experiences or, most of the time, just appears out of nowhere. One example is a boy who's father was hard on him for being affected by the worlds "modern ways", the boy at a high school party tries LSD ( a hallucinatory drug), after that thoughts of whether his mind was dangerously affected by the drug. What seemed like completely appropriate worrying and anxiety turned into attacks of anxiety, he couldn't shake the thoughts that something was wrong with his mind. Essentially he had "his mind on his mind" constantly and that haunted his days his thought were as follows: " did the lsd do anything to my mind? The thought never went away ; instead it got more and more complicated. There must be something wrong with my mind if i am spending so much time worrying about it. Is there something wrong with my mind? Was this from the lsd? Will it ever get better?" (The boy who, J. L. Rapoport 125,126) Dr. Rapoport promptly put him on Anafranil (an anti-depressant, used for OCD, not marketed in the U.
One would think that the money and other resources we invest in foreign aid, would help solve every problem in the world.
Obsessive compulsive disorder can be associated with other mental disorders that cause stress and anxiety, but it can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and medication. Obsessive compulsive disorder is a psychological disorder with symptoms of obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions, such as cleaning, checking, and counting. OCD is linked to other disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and experiential avoidance disorder (EA). OCD and ADHD have similar effects in children, being that they both lead to procrastination when trying to complete simple tasks. People with OCD and EA both have consistent negative thoughts, but the same treatments can be used for both.
...s can be switched in people and things still be okay. However I want to combine how having a mixture of each gender's traits is also good.
Due to the intense nature of the physical symptoms of PD and its impact of one’s life, various researchers has identified different contributory factors of this disorder. Some studies indicated hyperventilation, over activity in the noradrenergic neurotransmitter system, interceptive classical conditioning, anxiety sensitivity, catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations and safety behaviors are potential factors of PD (Davey, 2014). While, other researchers have stated PD is possibly caused by genetic predisposition, abnormalities in serotonin, and early developmental factors (Sansone et al., 1998). As the etiology of PD remains unknown and further studies are being conducted, it is agreed upon the mental health community that biological, psychological and cognitive factors contribute to the etiology and maintenance of PD.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Rector, N. A. (2011). Abnormal psychology. (2 ed., p. 297, 321, 322,
Network, C. W. (2008, May). About Concurrent Disorders. Retrieved from Central West Concurrent Disorders Network: hppt://centralwestcdn.ca/about-concurrent-disorders
The United States is one of the leading suppliers of Foreign Aid in the world, and even though the US gives billions, European countries give aid money to the same countries, this causes many areas of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia to be almost fully dependent on foreign aid. This means that without aid from other countries, they would not be able to support themselves at all. Foreign aid is meant to help countries that are struggling with civil unrest, disease, or natural disasters, it is not meant to help keep the country out of debt, but that is where more and more of the US and The EU’s foreign aid budget is going. The question is, does all this money actually go where it is intended? It should be going towards the government and to help the people, but in many cases, the countries government does not have the resources to properly track the flow of money. The countries in most cases have poor infrastructure and corrupt or oppressive leaders, not always at a national level, but in the towns and cities. So this means there is almost no way to oversee the flow of foreign aid through the country, all we can see is that their situations aren't getting any better and the countries are still impoverished. If this is the case, where are the millions of dollars going? Countries like Afghanistan and Iraq receive the most money from American foreign aid and European aid, yet they are still under oppressive governmental rule and there is still an extreme difference between the rich and poor. Garrett Harding’s theory of “Lifeboat Ethics” exemplifies how not giving aid to others will allow the strongest of society to thrive, while teaching the impoverished to help themselves. He believes that giving aid to poor countries will only make ...
...e, mouth, face, or whole body; involuntary chewing, sucking, and lip smacking; and jerky movements of the arms, legs, or entire body” (Comer, 2011, p. 379).