Investigating Habituation to Premonitory Urges in Behavior Therapy for Tic Disorders.

ABSTRACT: Behavior therapy is effective for Persistent Tic Disorders (PTDs), but behavioral processes facilitating tic reduction are not well understood. One process, habituation, is thought to create tic reduction through decreases in premonitory urge severity. The current study tested whether premonitory urges decreased in youth with PTDs (N = 126) and adults with PTDs (N = 122) who participated in parallel randomized clinical trials comparing behavior therapy to psychoeducation and supportive therapy (PST). Trends in premonitory urges, tic severity, and treatment outcome were analyzed according to the predictions of a habituation model, whereby urge severity would be expected to decrease in those who responded to behavior therapy. Although adults who responded to behavior therapy showed a signifi

SUBMITTER: Houghton DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5679290 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature