Facial tics are characterized by rapid, seemingly unintentional muscle contractions of entire muscle groups in the face. These contractions are habitually repetitive in nature, and appear to have no actual purpose. Most of the tics are exaggerated eye blinking, squinting, nose wrinkling, facial grimacing or even vocalizations such as grunting or throat clearing. Tics often show up 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 regularity as a person feels tension or discomfort. People who suffer from tics report they are often aware of a tic as it approaches. It's often described as an overwhelming feeling of tension and the wish 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 tension, which can lead to the beginning of another tic. Tics are often described as being uncontrolled but research and reports from victims indicates they are indeed voluntary motions that can be controlled by the sufferer.

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 often seen in Tourette syndrome. Simple tics are more usual than complex tics, but they can be just as upsetting to the sufferer; while a facial tic does not cause physical pain to the sufferer, it can often cause social problems or mental distress.

Children, in particular, can have a hard time dealing with a tic due to mocking from other kids, or teachers that don't fully understand the tricky situation the child is in. While tics are often described as not being totally involuntary, control of a tic can be quite difficult to establish, especially for children. Children often do not establish the skills to identify a starting tic as well as an adult.

Adults can also face critical difficulty in their lives when dealing with a facial tic. Social problems are very common, and even when tics are generally controlled the adult can become very exhausted by the constant need to identify the onset of and control the tic impulse. Adults and children alike may suffer from self-confidence issues due to their continual suffering from a disease that often causes them to become social outcasts.

Relieving a victim of the anxiety of a facial tic can change that person's life. Self-confidence usually 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 applied with varying degrees of achievement. Counseling or psychotherapy can help reveal the emotional causes of a tic, and may help a person better understand how to combat the urge to give in to their tic. Sedatives and other forms of medication sometimes do well in cases of simple tics. These meds often come saddled with negative side effects, so many people consider alternative treatments.

Self-hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) methods have been developed specifically for the purpose of dealing with tics. Since facial tics are not firmly involuntary in nature, these treatments aim to change the sufferer's unconscious response to the onset of a tic episode such as facial grimacing or throat clearing. In many cases this can be done by allowing the unconscious mind to stop 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 awkward life-affecting woe. Children and adults alike can suffer greatly from the existence of a facial tic such as grunting, nose wrinkling, facial grimaces, mouth twitches, squinting or eye blinking. Eliminating a facial tic can prove very useful to the sufferer on an emotional level.

Although lots of treatments have been developed to thwart facial tics, Hypnotherapy and NLP aim to utilize natural unconscious methods of redirecting the tic response. This type of help has great benefit over other methods such as psychotherapy, which may not treat the tic behavior at all, or attempt to change the conscious feeling about tic behavior.

Hypnotherapy and NLP also do not experience the unwanted side effects of drugs. This beneficial method of treatment can also reduce tension and worry 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, Hypnotherapy and NLP are often the safest, most preferred methods of treatment for tic sufferers.