Acceptance of premonitory urges and tics

Ella Gev, Tammy Pilowsky-Peleg, Sylvana Fennig, Noa Benaroya-Milshtein, Douglas W. Woods, John Piacentini, Alan Apter, Tammar Steinberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Premonitory urges (PU) often precede motor and vocal tic expression, are relieved by completion of the tic and may be more bothersome than tics. Most treatments focus more on tics than on PU. The present study examines the effect of an acceptance-based approach on PU. Forty five participants, aged 8-17, with Tourette syndrome (TS) were assessed. The procedure included three conditions, of 2 min' duration: free-to-tic (baseline), tic suppression and urge acceptance. For each condition, participant's monitored PU frequency and intensity, and discomfort level and tic frequency were measured. There was a significant decrease in frequency and intensity of urges during acceptance based approach. The same significant decrease was seen for discomfort level and tic frequency. These results may lead to new insights regarding therapy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)78-83
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
Volume10
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Inc.

Keywords

  • Acceptance
  • Discomfort
  • Premonitory urge
  • Tic disorders
  • Tics

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