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Tourette
Syndrome research at WMU explores tic suppression.
By
JP Gaylord
News Writer
November 04, 2004 |
www.westernherald.com |
The psychology
department at Western Michigan University begun a study that will
extend through mid-2005 on Tourette Syndrome and the suppression of
its related tics.
Jim Carr,
associate professor of psychology at WMU, will be the principal investigator
in a study focusing on children with the syndrome. WMU will be working
as a data collection site along with North Dakota State University
and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
"What
we're looking to do is find out how children can voluntarily stop
their own tics," he said.
Tics
are involuntary motor movements. Tourette Syndrome can involve vocal
and motor movements simultaneously.
"They're
more complex than a simple tic," said Wayne Fuqua, chairman of
the department of psychology at WMU.
The study
will use children as its subjects in order to deepen knowledge on
their ability to suppress their own tics.
Suppression
is also known as habit reversal and involves a fairly simple, self-administered
intervention, Fuqua said.
Suppression
techniques, Carr said, will be tested in both adults and children.
"We're
relatively confident about adults, but we're really unconfident about
younger children," he said.
There
are a number of treatments that involve suppression, he said, but
researchers don't know what happens to children after they stop suppressing.
The study
will find out if tics come back after suppression is stopped and if
they come back more intensely, which is known as a rebound effect,
Fuqua said.
The study
is not meant to be a treatment study, but researchers hope that the
knowledge they come away with will be able to influence the development
of future treatment methods.
Researchers
will be doing a number of assessments and interviews with the participants
of the study about their tics and history, Carr said.
The study
qualified as a greater than minimal risk study, and needed to be approved
by the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (HSIRB) because of
the vulnerable population that is being targeted and the use of a
new therapy that has not yet been tested.
The protocol
for the study was approved by both the University of Wisconsin at
Milwaukee HSIRB and the WMU HSIRB, said Vicki Janson, research compliance
coordinator at the WMU HSIRB.
"Anything
with more than a minimal risk needed to be approved by the 12-member
board," she said.
After
some suggested revisions, the study's protocol was modified and then
it was approved, she said. A study with minimal risk involves no risk
beyond what a normal person would face in daily activities if he lives
prudently.
The cause
of Tourette Syndrome is not fully known to researchers.
"It
clearly has some familial and genetic influences," Fuqua said.
"Genetics probably reflect a propensity or a risk for it."
The syndrome
tends to emerge in adolescence and early childhood, he said, beginning
with simple motor tics that become more complicated as a person ages.
"It's
very common for people with Tourette Syndrome to have a large set
of tics," Fuqua said.
The severity
of the tics can have a major impact on daily life.
"Sometimes
they are so severe that they attract attention," Fuqua said.
"They end up with social ostracism."
Tourette
Syndrome can also affect the ability to do a job depending on the
frequency, severity and controllability of the tics, he said.
Treatment
options involve either behavioral or pharmacological treatments.
"There's
pretty good evidence that behavioral treatments work," Fuqua
said.
All of
the data collection at WMU will take place in Wood Hall.
"We
have a history of researching Tourette Syndrome at WMU," Carr
said. "More researchers in psychology have been interested in
Tourette Syndrome."
