Functional tic-like behaviours
Alberta Psychiatric Association presentation on rapid onset tic-like behaviours
Dr Megan Howlett, resident in psychiatry at the University of Calgary, presented data on the 6 month prognosis of rapid onset functional tic-like behaviours at the Alberta Psychiatric Association meeting in March 2022. This presentation provides preliminary data on how symptoms evolved over the course of six months of follow up, and various treatment approaches that were used.
Recent publications on functional tic-like behaviours
Click on the links below to read up-to-date publications:
- The spectrum of functional tic-like behaviours: Data from an international registry
- The ESSTS (European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome) 2022 Criteria for Clinical Diagnosis of Functional Tic Like Behaviours (FTLBs): An international consensus from experts in tic disorders
Recent publication: August 2021
Rapid onset of functional tic-like behaviors in young females during the COVID-19 pandemic
Published in Movement Disorders by Dr Tamara Pringsheim, Dr Davide Martino, et al.
Recent publication: July 2021
Rapid onset of functional tic-like behaviours in young adults during the COVID- 19 pandemic
Published in European Journal of Neurology by Dr Tamara Pringsheim and Davide Martino
Rapid onset of explosive complex tic-like behaviours
Global tic phenomenon: rapid onset of explosive complex tic-like behaviours
During the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of young people with what are described as complex tic-like behaviors have been presenting at clinics in Canada and around the world. These individuals are mainly females between 12 and 25 years of age who experience a sudden onset of complex motor and vocal tic-like behaviors. Due to the tic like behaviours starting suddenly and aggressively, they are sometimes referred to as being an “explosive outburst”. Read on
Acute onset of functional tic-like behaviours
Webinar: Acute onset of functional tic-like behaviours in young people during the COVID 19 Pandemic
The webinar was presented by Dr Tamara Pringsheim and Dr Davide Martino, with Dr Rachel Hnatowich, to an audience of families and parents on May 12, 2021.
Going viral: social media and increasing new onset of tics
Dr Tamara Pringsheim's interview with Medscape, the web portal for physicians and healthcare workers, regarding the acute onset of functional tic-like behaviours.
"We believe that these TikTok videos may be a trigger for functional tic-like behaviors on the basis of a disease-modeling mechanism, and also be a trigger for tics similar to the echophenomena that we frequently observe during social gatherings of people with tics."
Acute onset of tic-like behaviours in young people during the COVID-19 pandemic
The webinar was presented to an audience of healthcare workers by Dr Tamara Pringsheim and Dr Davide Martino on May 12, 2021.
Webinar: Acute onset of tic-like behaviours in young people during the COVID-19 pandemic