Behavioural therapy may help to reduce the symptoms of Tourette syndrome, a new brain imaging study claims.
Researchers at The University of Nottingham, UK, working with Korea University in Seoul, discovered that the brains of children with Tourette syndrome (TS) reorganise when they reach their teens.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, found that it happens so the brain can compensate for the condition and allow them to gain control over their symptoms and tics.
Stephen Jackson, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the School of Psychology, said training the brain through behavioural therapy may help young people gain control over their symptoms more quickly and effectively. This method may also be an alternative to drug-based therapies.
“We had previously shown, somewhat paradoxically, that children with Tourette syndrome have greater control over their motor behaviour than typically-developing children of a similar age,” he explained.
“We had speculated that this was due to compensatory changes in the brain that helped these children control their tics.
“This new study provides compelling evidence that this enhanced control of motor output is accompanied by structural and functional alterations within the brain.”
Tourette syndrome is an inherited neurological condition. A key feature is tics – involuntary and uncontrollable sounds and movements such as coughing, grunting, eye blinking and repeating of words.
Compensatory Neural Reorganisation in Tourette Syndrome. Current Biology March 2011
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