Habit Reversal Training?

[melanie]

Im going to try this too!! Anyone have any positive or negitive feedback?

[patty]

IMO, i would reconsider habit reversal therapy just because TS or tics is not a habit. It is an involuntary movement disorder. I think the therapy would cause your child to have more awareness of his issues and cause more stress if he does not find the therapy helpful.

 

Have you tried acupuncture, chiropractic or craniolsacral therapy...? On this board, quit a few of us find acupuncture fast acting and helpful in reducing tics.

 

Pat

[melanie]

IMO, i would reconsider habit reversal therapy just because TS or tics is not a habit. It is an involuntary movement disorder. I think the therapy would cause your child to have more awareness of his issues and cause more stress if he does not find the therapy helpful.

 

Have you tried acupuncture, chiropractic or craniolsacral therapy...? On this board, quit a few of us find acupuncture fast acting and helpful in reducing tics.

 

Pat

 

 

Hi Pat we do accupuncture not chiropract Is there a good link to read about that? thought of doing it will do it Rutgers University Phd program has a Tourettes counseling clinic They do alot of HRT with + results My son has verbal tics that are pretty bad Ill try anything!!!

[Chemar]

Melanie

 

I have only heard negative things on HRT re true Tourette tics

some report an increase in OCD when this is tried

I dont know what techniques they use where you reference, but I would still be very cautious if it were my child

 

as Patty says, TS tics are NOT a habit. they are involuntary neurological reactions

 

 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy CBT is a far better way to go to help teach coping skills for those tics IMHO

[AHB900]

Sometimes i feel that these things can be habits. I have some tics that i just have NO control over, but their are others that i can keep my self from doing i just cant stand the feeling of holding them back. For example, eye blinking i can hold it but if i hold it my eye starts getting uncomfortable causing me to blink. Or neck stretching my neck feels uncomfortable so if i try to not stretch it starts feeling even more uncomfortable so i just stretch it. Others that i feel that are involentary are some vocals tics and sometimes head bobbing and arm movements.

[AHB900]

Sometimes i feel that these things can be habits. I have some tics that i just have NO control over, but their are others that i can keep my self from doing i just cant stand the feeling of holding them back. For example, eye blinking i can hold it but if i hold it my eye starts getting uncomfortable causing me to blink. Or neck stretching my neck feels uncomfortable so if i try to not stretch it starts feeling even more uncomfortable so i just stretch it. Others that i feel that are involentary are some vocals tics and sometimes head bobbing and arm movements.

[lynsey]

OK, this is probably gonna sound way out there for some of you, but have you ever

tried what I call "tic substitution" or "tic modification"? These are terms that I came

up with for how I helped my sons deal with some of their more noticeable tics.

For example, if they would exclaim: Jesus! I would suggest that they say something very close

but not exactly, like: "Jeez!!!" which sounds a lot better if they are exclaiming these

words in public. Or a physical tic such as hair twisting, you can possibly modify by having

them twist a string in their hands instead. Now, I can't say this would work for

everyone, but it did help my sons through some of their more noticeable tics.

Even if they got stuck on the "tic substitution" it was usually less-noticeable and

more "mainstream", and so they were less stressed about it, and consequently the

tic would eventually wane completely (as opposed to them being stressed about a

noticeable tic, which only exacerbated it).

Again, might not work for everyone, but it did for us and so may be worth a try for

some of you.

 

Lynsey

[Chemar]

Hi Lynsey

substitution is one of the techniques my son learned during Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

 

*really* helped him when he was going thru coprolalia

 

he has developed remarkable ways of coping with his tics in public and even tho he only had a very short period of formal CBT when he was much younger, the coping skills he learned will last a lifetime

 

good for you on helping your kids learn to substitute instead of suppress. SO much better for them as the tic can still release that way without the physical & psychological stress of suppression

[lynsey]

Hi Lynsey

substitution is one of the techniques my son learned during Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

 

*really* helped him when he was going thru coprolalia

 

he has developed remarkable ways of coping with his tics in public and even tho he only had a very short period of formal CBT when he was much younger, the coping skills he learned will last a lifetime

 

good for you on helping your kids learn to substitute instead of suppress. SO much better for them as the tic can still release that way without the physical & psychological stress of suppression

 

 

Thanks Cheri, I appreciate your feedback. I've done years of CBT for my anxiety, and helped my sons by teaching them some CBT techniques

for their anxiety, but I didn't realize that the "tic substitution" was a CBT technique. That's great to know,

as I am a die-hard fan of CBT...it saved my life, and I was determined to have my sons learn it much

earlier than me. It's great that you exposed your son to CBT when he was young, I think it is the most

useful non-medicinal tool out there. However, I found my sons did not like formal CBT training much at all

(no real reason, the psychologists were beyond excellent, my sons just weren't receptive),

but they were much more receptive to me teaching it to them, as situations arose.

 

Lynsey