Good afternoon
C. and K.:
Little work has been done in this area -- the most recent article I
was able to find was from April 1989 (in the American Journal of Clinical
Hypnosis -- Volume 31, Issue 4, pages 252-256). This was a case study
only, in which an adolescent male's tics were successfully decreased
through a four-step treatment model consisting of progressive relaxation,
finger-tip temperature feedback, an eye-roll procedure, and imagery.
Nine sessions spanned six months of treatment.
My thoughts
on this is that hypnosis may work, but not because it IS hypnosis. Rather,
hypnotic techniques (as explicitly stated in the above study's abstract)
involve teaching relaxation techniques. It is a common finding that
ANYTHING that serves to relax an individual with TS will result in a
decrease of symptoms. Hence, simple relaxation techniques, massage,
biofeedback, meditation, or even chiropractic can bring the same results
in the same way (by decreasing tension).
My own
(anecdotal) experiences with hypnosis (being publicly hypnotized on
a number of occasions at various entertainment venues and once in an
introductory psychology class) were that, during the on-stage period
of hypnosis, I did not tic (nor, on one occasion, did I continue to
notice a rather severe muscle strain I was suffering from at the time
as a result of weight-lifting). I am not able to articulate the experience
well except to say that, while you are still quite conscious (i.e.,
you are aware of what you are doing and what is happening around you)
you have allowed yourself to fall into such a state of suggestibility
that you are no longer initiating thoughts and actions of your own --
you are in essence allowing the hypnotist to be your substitute frontal
lobe for a little while. Since tics "piggy-back" onto your
own learned motor and phonic patterns, and you are temporarily distracted
away from those patterns, you do not tic.
This is,
however, a temporary situation. Because hypnosis is considerably more
"in the moment" than popular literature or the Dukes of Hazzard
would have us believe, I don't believe you can implant a permanent suggestion
to carry with you for years following. Given my explanation above of
why tics disappeared for me during hypnosis (and returned immediately
following each session), an implanted suggestion of this nature could
not possibly work because eventually you must return to using your own
frontal lobe once a hypnotist is no longer present to think for you,
and the distraction ends.
Do not
fret, however, for there are many treatments available -- a wide range
of psychotherapeutic, cognitive-behavioural, pharmaceutical, and alternative
approaches. Plus the added bonus is that your son is only 6; this means
that thanks to you he will never experience the true debilitation of
this disorder -- growing up in ignorance!
Take good
care, and the best of luck to you all!
Dr. Dunc.
