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Clinical presentations of the Tourette syndrome diathesis

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Abstract

Psychiatric disturbances are frequent in Tourette syndrome (TS) patients but their relationship to the tic disorder is controversial. The report of a high prevalence of psychiatric disorders in TS relatives with or without tics compared with controls supports the hypothesis that neuropsychiatric disturbances are variant expressions of the TS gene. This combined with the report of a high prevalence of the tic disorder suggests that TS may contribute significantly to the etiological heterogeneity of a wide array of psychiatric disorders. The following is a report of patients who sought treatment because of disabling psychiatric symptoms and in whom the diagnosis of a TS diathesis was made for the first time as an incidental observation during the evaluation. The histories of the patients and their families provide clinical support for the hypothesis of a significant relationship between TS and psychiatric disorders and suggests that clinicians should be alert to the presence of an underlying TS diathesis in their patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, North Shore University Hospital, USA

    Jeffrey Sverd

  2. The Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, 300 Community Drive, 11030, Manhasset, New York

    Jeffrey Sverd

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Sverd, J. Clinical presentations of the Tourette syndrome diathesis. Journal of the Multihandicapped Person 2, 311–326 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01098172

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