I Can’t Stop It! Tics and Twitches in Children and Teens
/12 year old Tyler* and his mum came to visit us concerned about something they called his “twitch”. To show me what they were talking about, they bought along an iphone video of Tyler playing his xbox while this twitch was happening. Basically Tyler’s “twitch” consisted of him tightening up one half of his face in a tight wink while swallowing hard at the same time. This had been increasingly happening to Tyler for several months. Now it would happen for hours at a time while playing his game, and also at times of stress at school. Tyler felt embarrassed about it, and his Mum felt worried for him – their GP had recommended they come and see us.
Tyler’s “twitch” is usually called a “tic” by psychologists. Tics are defined as a “sudden, rapid, recurrent, nonrhythmic motor movement or vocalization.” Tics can be simple – involving just one movement/noise – or complex – which are movements or vocalisations which involve a range of actions/noises.
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