Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome: clinical characteristics, family psychopathology, associated feature

... Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome: clinical characteristics, family psychopathology, associated feature Not many people have heard of Gilles Tourette's Syndrome (GTS). It is a complex and intriguing disorder that displays distinct physical characteristics and unusual mental behaviour. It was the French neurologist Gilles de la Tourette who, in 1885, was the first to conduct a systematic study of the motor and vocal tics which are a hall mark of the syndrome. Over a century later the diagnostic criteria for GTS are still being refined, but the generally accepted diagnostic criteria found in the DSM - 111 - R of the American Psychiatric Association (1987) are as follows: a) Both multiple motor and one or more vocal tics which must have been present at some time during the illness, although not necessarily concurrently. b) The tics occur many times a day ( usually in bouts), nearly every day, or intermittently, throughout a period

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