EXPERT
Dr. David G. Lichter
Neurologist
I have an academic position as Professor of Clinical Neurology, University at Buffalo (Buffalo, NY, USA). My practice is primarily oriented to patients with movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, other Parkinsonian disorders, tremor, chorea, and Tourette syndrome and other tic disorders. My areas of expertise are in Parkinson's disease, cognitive disorders associated with Parkinson's disease, Tourette syndrome, and the motor, cognitive, behavioral and affective disorders associated with conditions affecting frontal-subcortical brain circuitry.
Dr. David G. Lichter
- Buffalo, New York
- New Zealand
- Accepting new patients
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I’m pretty sure I have a tic disorder?
I'm very sorry that your mother is being so unsupportive. You probably do indeed have a tic disorder. Whereas the age of onset of tics is most commonly in childhood in boys, it READ MORE
I'm very sorry that your mother is being so unsupportive. You probably do indeed have a tic disorder. Whereas the age of onset of tics is most commonly in childhood in boys, it is commonly a bit later in females and onset in adolescence is not that unusual. Be assured that your mother cannot have you admitted to a psychiatric institution against your will. This could only be done by two psychiatrists who are in agreement that your were suffering from a severe psychiatric condition that made this absolutely necessary and that would never be considered with a simple tic disorder. I would definitely bring the condition up with your primary care doctor. Hopefully he will recognize it as a tic disorder and, if he is not particularly comfortable managing this himself (many primary care doctors are not), he may well refer you to a neurologist, which I would hope would happen. The treatments for tics include both medications and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBIT), but this depends on how much the tics are interfering with everyday life and sometimes education about the disorder is all that is needed. Sometimes there are associated conditions, including obsessive-compulsive symptoms or other forms of anxiety, which might also need to be addressed.
