Facial tics are characterized by abrupt, apparently reflex muscle contractions of entire muscle groups in the face and neck region. These contractions are often repetitive in nature, and appear to have no real reason. Common tics are exaggerated eye blinking, squinting, nose wrinkling, facial grimacing or even vocalizations such as throat clearing or grunting. Tics often show themselves during childhood, and often resolve as a child ages. This is not always the case, though, and many people continue to exhibit tics as they enter adulthood.
Tics often increase in occurrence as an individual feels stress or discomfort. Victims who suffer from tics report they are often aware of an impending tic. It’s often described as an overwhelming feeling of tension and the urge to perform the tic to break the tension; somewhat akin to the approaching urge to yawn or sneeze which relieves the person. Trying to control a tic can trigger stress, which can lead to the trigger of another tic. Tics are often described as being automatic but research and reports from victims indicates they are indeed voluntary motions that can be controlled by the victim.
A tic can be seen as a simple tic, as in facial grimaces, mouth twitches or grunting or it can be more complex such as is seen very often in Tourette syndrome. Simple tics are more common than complex tics, but they can be just as devastating to the individual; while a facial tic does not cause physical pain to the victim, it often triggers mental distress or social problems.
Children, in particular, can have a hard time living with a tic because of mocking from other kids, or teachers that don’t fully appreciate the thorny situation the child is in. While tics are often described as not being totally involuntary, control of a tic is difficult to establish, especially for children. Children often do not establish the skills to identify a tic onset as well as an adult.
Adults can also face serious problems in their lives when living with a facial tic. Social problems are commonly experienced, and even when tics are generally controlled the adult can become very worn out by the constant need to identify the onset of and control the tic impulse. Adults and children alike may suffer from self-esteem or self-worth issues due to their continuous suffering from a disease that often causes them to become social outcasts.
Relieving a person of the pain of a facial tic can be a life-changing experience. Self-esteem often improves, and social anxiety is no longer a strength holding an individual back from experiencing a full life. In children, relieving a tic may permit the child to develop with less anxiety while he/she has a happier childhood.
Over the years, many treatments for tics have been used with varying degrees of achievement. Counseling or psychotherapy can help reveal the emotional causes of a tic, and may help an individual understand better how to resist the urge to perform their tic. Mild sedatives and other forms of medication are sometimes successful in cases of simple tics. These medications often come saddled with unwanted side effects, so many people seek alternative treatments.
Self-hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) methods have been created expressly for the purpose of overcoming facial tics. Since facial tics are not strictly involuntary in nature, these treatments aim to change the sufferer’s unconscious response to the onset of a tic episode such as throat clearing or facial grimacing. In a large number of cases this can be accomplished by allowing the unconscious mind to avert the tic’s onset. In some extreme cases, however, the victim’s response will be redirected to some innocuous portion of the body such as twitching a toe instead of facial muscles.
Facial tics can be an upsetting life-affecting trouble. Children and adults alike can suffer a lot from the existence of a facial tic such as eye blinking, squinting, mouth twitches, facial grimaces, nose wrinkling, or grunting. Eliminating a facial tic can prove very helpful to the victim on an emotional level.
Although lots of treatments have been created to thwart facial tics, NLP and self-hypnosis aim to utilize natural unconscious methods of redirecting the tic response. This type of treatment has great benefit over other methods such as counseling, which may not help the tic behavior at all, or attempt to modify the conscious feeling about tic behavior.
NLP and self-hypnosis also do not experience the unwanted side effects of drugs. This beneficial method of treatment can also cut tension and anxiety in the victim’s life, thereby both reducing the impulse to form a tic and proving an advantage in everyday life. Due to these factors, NLP and self-hypnosis are often the safest, most preferred methods of treatment for tic sufferers.
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