Understanding Tics and Urges

Many people with tics experience a sensation or premonitory urge shortly before a tic occurs. This may feel like tension, pressure, discomfort, or a sense that a particular movement or sound needs to happen.

An important part of CBIT is helping clients become more aware of their tics and recognize the sensations and other signs that may occur before them. Treatment also looks at situations, activities, emotions, and environmental factors that may make particular tics more likely or more difficult to manage.

What Does CBIT Involve?

Treatment is collaborative and tailored to each client’s particular tics and needs. Clients learn and practice a competing response which is a behavior that is physically incompatible with the tic and can be used when the urge to tic occurs. With practice, clients become more skilled at using these strategies when urges occur.

CBIT may also include strategies for changing situations or patterns that tend to exacerbate tics. CBIT recognizes that tics are not intentional behaviors and does not simply ask clients to suppress them or rely on willpower.

The goal is not necessarily to eliminate every tic. Instead, treatment focuses on helping clients develop more effective ways to respond to urges and reducing the extent to which they interfere with school, work, relationships, or other aspects of everyday life.