Tic Frequency Decreases during Short-term Psychosocial Stress – An Experimental Study on Children with Tic Disorders

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

It has been suggested that psychosocial stress influences situational fluctuations of tic frequency. However, evidence from experimental studies is lacking. The current study investigated the effects of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-C) on tic frequency in 31 children and adolescents with tic disorders. A relaxation and a concentration situation served as control conditions. Patients were asked either to suppress their tics or to "tic freely." Physiological measures of stress were measured throughout the experiment. The TSST-C elicited a clear stress response with elevated levels of saliva cortisol, increased heart rate, and a larger number of skin conductance responses. During relaxation and concentration, the instruction to suppress tics reduced the number of tics, whereas during stress, the number of tics was low, regardless of the given instruction. Our study suggests that the stress might result in a situational decrease of tic frequency.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number84
Number of pages8
JournalFrontiers in Psychiatry
Volume7
Issue numberMAY
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 84975748873
researchoutputwizard legacy.publication#72463
researchoutputwizard legacy.publication#72945
ORCID /0000-0003-2132-4445/work/160950817

Keywords

Keywords

  • tic disorders, Trier Social Stress Test, free speech task, skin conductance, heart rate, Tourette syndrome, psychosocial stress, cortisol