Focus on the dangers of childhood tics

  Childhood tic disorder is a behavioral disorder in children, mostly starting at the age of 4 to 12. It is often overlooked by parents when it starts, mistakenly thought to be a problem with the child’s habits, and scolded by parents, or thought to be an eye or throat disease and seen by ophthalmologists or quintuplegics. Some people think that tics will heal naturally when they grow up, so they don’t pay enough attention to their children, which makes it easy to delay treatment.  The cause of tic disorder is still unknown to the medical community. The onset of the disorder is often triggered by fright or stress or excitement, and the onset of the disorder is followed by repeated twitching of the facial muscles or limb muscles. Some children can heal spontaneously, but some children have more twitching areas over time and develop various complex twitches with peculiar patterns, which are characterized by impulsive touching, jabbing movements, kicking, kneeling, walking and spinning, etc., and cannot be controlled by themselves. Some of the twitches are not easily detected by parents, such as tummy twitches. Some patients have vocal tics as the first symptom, making various syllabic or nonsyllabic cries and inappropriate words and phrases, which are often repetitive and stereotypical obscenities. Some studies have shown that at least 30% of children with Tourette’s syndrome present with obscenities. In severe cases, mimicry, imitation and repetition of language, obsessive-compulsive actions, or obscene behavior may also occur.  The disorder also harms children in the following ways: 1. Secondary learning difficulties: The child’s tics and involuntary vocalizations cause distraction and severe tics make it difficult to keep the child’s eyes on the book. Some affected children struggle to control their vocal tics in class, cannot focus on the teacher’s lecture, and generally have poor academic performance. The discrimination or ridicule of classmates and teachers makes the affected children dislike school even more, and even become anxious and truant.  2, personality development: 4 to 12 years old is an important period for the formation of children’s self-awareness, from “natural person” to “social person” development, this stage of children’s psychological development is characterized by: in the interaction with adults and peers, their self-awareness has developed, the formation of a certain view and evaluation of self, such as They form certain opinions and evaluations of themselves, such as whether they are smart or stupid, pretty or ugly, etc. Younger children lack the ability to evaluate themselves independently, and most of this self-evaluation comes from outside sources, such as teachers, peers, and parents. Positive or negative evaluations from the outside world during this period can have a significant impact on children’s self-awareness and personality formation. If they are often scolded by parents, criticized by teachers, or ridiculed by peers during this period, they can cause great harm to their psychosomatic development. The psychological traits and personality tendencies formed during childhood are the core components of a person’s personality and can affect a person’s life. If children with Tourette’s syndrome do not receive timely and effective psychological intervention, it is difficult to build self-esteem, self-confidence, and a healthy personality, and it is easy to develop anti-social psychology. Some children with Tourette’s syndrome develop conduct disorders in adolescence.  3, social withdrawal and social disorders: with the growth of age, children’s social interaction and interpersonal interaction range gradually expanded, will produce some advanced emotional experience, such as a sense of honor, responsibility, etc.. If the child does not receive timely and effective treatment, especially if the tics are not controlled, it will seriously affect his interactions with classmates and peers, resulting in low self-esteem, social withdrawal, immature behavior, social disorders, stuttering and character discipline problems, seriously affecting their social interactions and interpersonal relationships. The late Mr. Ding Zan, a famous psychologist in China, said: “The most important human psychological adaptation is the adaptation to interpersonal relationships. Therefore, human psychopathology is mainly triggered by the dysfunction of interpersonal relationships.”  Studies have proven that childhood tics do not progress to psychiatric disorders, and intelligence is generally unaffected. Some scholars have found that some children with tics have higher IQs than the average child. It is also true that the internal pain caused by tics in children with the disorder is enormous, and they suffer from chronic pain and frustration. Since tics can lead to changes in mental, psychological, personality, behavior, thinking, and learning, it is extremely important for children with tics to be treated promptly and effectively.  Currently, Western medical treatment is aimed at controlling symptoms, and no etiological treatment has been reported. Neuroblockers can block dopamine receptors better, and can control twitching and other symptoms in some children. Some patients may be drowsy all day and unable to learn, and in severe cases, the tic symptoms may even be aggravated, so it is not easy to be accepted by the child’s family.  In conclusion, western drugs act on neurotransmitters and receptors, and some patients can control symptoms faster, but because of the non-selective action, they also control normal muscle groups while controlling symptoms, and therefore have more side effects. Every doctor is well aware of the impact of these side effects on the patient, but because there is no effective drug yet, they can only prescribe as they see fit, as doctors in small clinics do, and as big experts in big cities do. Since the efficacy of these western drugs is not exact, and the side effects are large and difficult to treat at the root, doctors and patients put more hope in Chinese medicine. However, traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese medicine often require long-term use for several years or even decades, although the side effects are relatively less, but long-term use of side effects are still large, and the efficacy is not exact, and often relapse after stopping the drug.  At present, there are several foreign treatment methods as follows: shock therapy, carbon dioxide inhalation therapy, hypnotherapy, antispasmodic therapy, central stimulant therapy, etc., all have certain efficacy, but the efficacy is not certain.