Why the Tourette Association of America Should Be Investigated: Part 10

Sheila Rogers DeMare, Director Association for Comprehensive NeuroTherapy

This is the final article in a series that has documented the Tourette Association of America’s (TAA) failure to determine the cause of Tourette syndrome and find safe, effective treatments for symptoms.

The question now is: Where do things go from here?

For starters, we need to recognize that the TAA isn’t going to change. It will keep raising awareness and advocating for those who suffer from Tourette’s. Meanwhile, their medical and scientific advisory boards will keep barking up the wrong tree until they move past these false beliefs:

1. The false belief that Tourette syndrome and related tic disorders are best diagnosed with simple checklists rather than through a comprehensive assessment of the patient’s symptoms and possible causes.
2. The false belief that Tourette’s is a mysterious and incurable condition with symptoms that spontaneously wax and wane for no definable reason.
3. The false belief that neurologists, psychiatrists and psychologists, rather than other medical specialties, hold the key to Tourette syndrome.

These false beliefs are part of their “culture,” and the TAA has shown no interest in changing course in time to help the current generation of children.

New efforts are needed from open-minded organizations

Now it is time to take the diagnosis and treatment of Tourette syndrome in new directions.

ACN Latitudes will continue unter the false beliefs held by the Tourette syndrome medical community with these goals:

1. Show that patients presenting with tics are best diagnosed with a comprehensive medical evaluation, not just a checklist.
2. Show that tics and related symptoms reflect an underlying biological/physical imbalance that can be treated and that symptoms wax and wane under the law of cause and effect, not some mysterious force.
3. Show that a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach is required to determine the causes and best treatments for tic disorders.

I believe that one day, the current diagnosis and treatment of Tourette syndrome will be looked at as one of the worst blunders in modern medicine.

Unfortunately, generation after generation has been disempowered by the false beliefs propagated by the TSA/TAA and other mainstream institutions. Families have been told they were wasting their time by looking for answers. At this point, only a small percentage buck conventional advice and find real help. It’s time to put new assessments and treatments for Tourettes and other tic disorders on a fast track that will help today’s children.