Behavioral Therapy for Tourette Syndrome

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Tourette Syndrome

In brief

This research is being done to determine whether a home-based behavioral therapy can be successfully used to treat tics in children with Tourette syndrome (TS). Behavioral therapy administered by a trained therapist has been shown to be helpful in reducing tics in children with Tourette syndrome. In this study, the investigators want to determine whether an instructional video can provide parents of children with TS with the tools necessary to successfully use behavioral therapy at home. The investigators also want to determine the effectiveness of home-based behavioral therapy as compared to improvement achieved when the therapy is provided by a trained therapist.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT03019731

Run by

Johns Hopkins University

People needed

51

Starts

2017-03-21

Expected to finish

2019-03-21

Last updated by the study team

2021-04-01

Who can join

Age: 7 and older, up to 13. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Meet criteria for TS or a chronic motor/vocal tic disorder (CTD). TS as defined by the TS Classification Study Group, includes onset before 18 years, multiple involuntary motor tics, one or more vocal tics, a waxing and waning course, the gradual replacement of old symptoms with new ones, the presence of tics for more than one year, the absence of other medical explanations for tics, and the observation of tics by a reliable examiner. CTD, criteria are as above, except that only motor or vocal tics are required
• Age 7-13 years, either gender
• Observable tics, achieving a minimum score > 20 for TS or > 15 for CTD on the Total Tic Severity score of the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS)
• Tic symptoms must be severe enough to warrant therapy; [e] Tics are not controlled with current medication or individuals are tic-suppressing drug naïve
• The concurrent use of other tic-suppressing medications will be permitted, if the subject has been on a stable dose for more than six weeks and agrees to maintain a constant dosage throughout the study; [6] The concurrent use of medication for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is also permitted if the participant has been on a stable dose for more than six weeks and agrees to maintain a constant dosage throughout the study.
• Participants will be included in the study if they have had less than four previous sessions of habit reversal training. The investigators will not allow the study to interfere with simultaneous behavioral treatment. In this study, the investigators will assess whether caregiver-directed behavioral therapy using an instructional DVD will help patients who would like behavioral therapy, but the patients do not live close enough to Johns Hopkins for frequent visits.

You may not qualify if…

• Secondary tics
• Significant medical illness or a chronic neurological condition (i.e., seizure disorder, developmental neurological conditions, acquired brain injuries
• Current major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, psychotic symptoms (based upon clinical evaluation), pervasive developmental disorder, autism, intellectual disability (I.Q. less than 70), anorexia/bulimia, or substance abuse
• Individuals with significant OCD, not controlled by medication, will be excluded
• Four or more previous sessions of habit reversal training.

Where it is running

• Johns Hopkins Hospital — Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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