Emotion regulation and tic disorders in children

Advancements in the phenomenology, assessment, and treatment of Tourette syndrome

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Tourette syndrome (TS) and chronic tic disorders, collectively referred to as TS, are relatively common childhood onset neuropsychiatric conditions associated with functional impairment and distress. Over the past several years, clinical research has contributed to the advancement of the field's understanding of mechanisms and clinical correlates of TS. This progress has led to the development of key assessment tools and the implementation of novel interventions for individuals with TS.

RECENT FINDINGS

This article provides a review of innovative TS research focusing on four key themes: investigation of clinical phenomenology of TS; validation of assessment tools for TS; dissemination of current evidence-based treatments for TS; and exploration of new intervention programs.

SUMMARY

Cumulatively, this growing body of work presents considerable progress and provides a path forward to improve the assessment and treatment of TS.

Group comprehensive behavioral intervention for tics contribution to broader cognitive and emotion regulation in children

There is increasing evidence for the effectiveness of behavioral techniques in managing tics in youth with Tourette syndrome and tics disorders (TDs). One such intervention is Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT), which focuses on reducing tic severity by training control and regulation. In view of the regulation deficits characteristic to TDs, in the current study, we aimed to explore the contribution of CBIT beyond tic control, to a wider expression of regulation abilities-cognitive inhibition and emotion regulation. A total of 55 participants with TDs, aged 8-15, who were randomly assigned to group-CBIT or group-Educational Intervention for Tics, were compared on cognitive inhibition tests and use of emotion-regulation strategies, pre- and post-intervention. Whereas on none of the scales a significant interaction effect was found reflecting superiority of CBIT over EIT, repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant time effect, with post hoc analyses indicating that cognitive inhibition and cognitive reappraisal significantly increased following CBIT intervention only. Within the group-CBIT, the increase in cognitive reappraisal was associated with higher intellectual ability. These findings may lead to a broader understanding of CBIT contribution to more than tic control, but rather to better cognitive and emotional regulation abilities.

Psychotherapy Combined with Western Medicine in the Treatment of Children with Tic Disorder: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective

To evaluate the efficacy of psychotherapy in children with tic disorder and to provide basis for the application of psychotherapy in the treatment of children with tic disorder.

Methods

A detailed search was conducted based on PubMed, Cochrane library database, CNKI, Wanfang Data, and VIP database to determine the randomized controlled trial (RCT) of psychotherapy combined with drugs and oral drugs in the treatment of tic disorder. The search time was from the establishment of the database to August 20, 2021. All kinds of extracted data are meta analyzed, and the statistical software used is Review Manager 5.3 software.

Results

According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 14 clinical trials were finally included, including 513 TD children, including 267 in the psychological intervention group and 246 in the control group. All trials were conducted in China and published from 2013 to 2021. In terms of clinical efficacy, compared with the control group, the psychotherapy combined with drugs group had more advantages in improving the effective rate (RR = 3.25, 95% CI: 2.17~4.85, Z = 5.74, P < 0.00001) and improving the clinical symptoms of children with TD (WM = −5.36, 95% CI: -6.41 ~ -4.30, Z = 9.97, P < 0.00000 1).

Conclusion

Psychotherapy as an adjuvant therapy for clinical treatment of TD can improve the clinical efficacy, but due to the low methodological quality of the existing trials, the research may have potential bias. In the future, large sample, multicenter, and double-blind randomized controlled trials need to be carried out to provide further support.