Contact: Will Sansom
Phone: (210) 567-2579
E-mail: sansom@uthscsa.edu

It has been estimated that up to 1 in 5 schoolchildren have some form of tic disorder at some time during their lives. Tourette syndrome, which is marked by involuntary movements and vocalizations, and other tic disorders affect hundreds of thousands of American children and adults.

To gain a better understanding about these disorders, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Department of Psychiatry has joined with five other U.S. centers to conduct the federally funded Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) study.

Alan Peterson, Ph.D., is principal investigator of a study of Tourette syndrome and chronic tic disorders.
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Alan Peterson, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the Health Science Center, is the principal investigator of the CBIT site in San Antonio, where adults with Tourette syndrome and chronic tic disorders are being recruited. The other CBIT sites recruiting adults are at Harvard and Yale.

CBIT sites recruiting children are at UCLA, Johns Hopkins and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Study leaders seeking 70 adult volunteers
The research study is comparing a behavioral intervention for tics to the standard non-medication, basic informational counseling that is given in communities nationwide. The study seeks 70 more adult volunteers at the three sites; the recruitment of children has been completed.

The study consists of eight treatment sessions over a 10-week period.

“We don’t mean to say that Tourette syndrome and other chronic tic disorders are just bad habits to correct,” Dr. Peterson said. “These are medical disorders that have a strong biological basis and yet can be treated effectively with behavioral intervention.”

Study based on standard behavioral intervention techniques
The same therapy has been used for 25 years in the treatment of hair pulling, nail biting, thumb sucking and other behaviors. Now various groups, including Dr. Peterson’s, are asking whether it can be used effectively with the multiple issues of Tourette syndrome.

For more information
To ask about eligibility for the CBIT study in San Antonio, call study coordinator Christin Pasker at (210) 562-5411. The studies are supported by the Tourette Syndrome Association and are funded by $6 million from the National Institute on Mental Health.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $536 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $14.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 22,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields.