AN UPDATE ON TOURETTE’S SYNDROME
Abstract
Tourette’s syndrome (TS) is a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental condition characterised by motor and vocal tics that affects around 0.3-1% of the population. Little is known about its causes and long-term consequences. Current pharmacological treatments are modestly efficacious and associated with undesirable side effects. Behavioural treatments are more acceptable to patients but are largely unavailable. In this talk, I will describe our on-going TS programme at the Karolinska Institutet. We employ a range of advance epidemiological methods to understand the risk factors (genetic, environmental) and consequences (medical, social) of the disorder. I will also present the results of a pilot randomised controlled trial evaluating two remote Internet-delivered behavioural interventions for TS.
Professor Mataix-Cols is a clinical psychologist specialised in the study and care of patients with obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. He completed his PhD in 1999 (University of Barcelona). In 2000 he was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship to conduct post-doctoral research at Imperial College London. From 2002, he was appointed lecturer at King’s College London, where he eventually became a full professor in 2012. In parallel, he developed his clinical activity at the Maudsley Hospital. He is now professor of child and adolescent psychiatric science at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, where he runs a program of research aimed at understanding the causes of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders across the lifespan and the development of cost-effective treatments for these conditions. From 2006-2013, he was advisor to the DSM-5 Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders Workgroup. He is author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications and recipient of multiple grants and awards from the UK, US, EU, Sweden and Spain. His H-Index is 53 (ISI Web of Science) and has appeared in the Clarivate most cited researcher list for 3 years in a row (2015-2017). He is currently associate editor of the Journal of Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders.
