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Question 26: hey:) I saw your article in Macleans Magazine, and I was intrigued. I am a 17 year old student who....has ADD, and actually, much like you appreciating your TS, I like ADD...I mean honestly, imagine how boring it would be not to be thinking of 10 things at once! Anyways, the reason I am writing is because I was wondering how closely related ADD is to TS and OCD. Through reading some of the articles on your site, I see many simelarities. I guess I am basically curious about the differences between the three because based on my understanding....very often people diagnosed with ADD have, to some degree, obsessive-cumpulsive tendancies, and very minor tics. Just Curious. K.A.B., ON, Canada.

Hi K.A.B.!

My apologies for being awhile in responding................I hand in my Ph.D. dissertation tomorrow and so have been writing furiously this past week (it is now 99 pages)!!

I like your attitude sir................you will go far. You could also be a hell of a role-model for a lot of folks with similar diagnoses: I don't know what you plan to do with your life but I hope some work (volunteer or career) will be putting your positivity to good use!

The short answer to your question re: how closely related are TS, OCD, and ADHD is: "very". In terms of numbers, 28-67% (depending on the study) of people with TS have OCD, and 35-89% (again depending on the study -- doctors like to argue a lot) of people with TS have ADHD. In my presentations I talk about how all 3 disorders are simply different ways of not being able to regulate yourself well -- TS is not having great control over your movements, OCD is not having great control over your thoughts, and ADHD is not having great control over where your attention and energy levels are directed (in other words, ADHD doesn't really mean you have LESS attention than anyone else -- it is just a little less 'reigned in').

I should end by mentioning that while people with TS are diagnosed with ADHD or OCD much more often than people without TS are, it ISN'T true that a lot of people with ADHD are diagnosed with TS. It also isn't true that a lot of people with OCD are diagnosed with TS. In other words, it is sort of an accumulative thing -- if a person has OCD, fine. If a person has ADHD, fine. But if a person has TS, (s)he probably has at least elements of the other two disorders too. We TS'ers don't do anything half-way.......... :-)

Hope this helps K.A.B. -- enjoy your summer!
cheers,
Dr. Dunc.

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