As many as one-fourth of all children experience the embarrassing annoyance of facial tics. This condition can most accurately be explained as a repetitive, continual spasm that affects the muscles of both the eyes and the face. The true cause is often unknown, but research has demonstrated a strong link between stressors and an increase in severity of symptoms.



Another possible cause of tics is a deficit in essential vitamins or minerals, like magnesium. In certain instances, facial tics are manifestations of disorders of the nervous system, including Tourette syndrome, a health condition caused by a malfunction of the nervous system. Tourette syndrome is thought to contain a hereditary facet as well.

Some examples of a facial tic are rapid eye movements or eye blinking, squinting, mouth or nose wrinkling, twitching, grunting, mouth twitches, facial grimacing, facial twitches, and throat clearing. A tic often begins early in an individual’s physical development, and can last for just a few weeks or for several years. Sometimes, the condition lasts even after a child reaches adulthood.

Facial tics can persist and exacerbate anxious disorders in a child already experiencing significant stress because of the condition itself. Other children can at times be incredibly unkind, making fun of the child’s problem. Further, teachers who fail to understand and fail to assist other students to understand and assist the child in conquering his condition can can create a devastatingly negative impact on a child’s self-esteem.

The problem, however, is not limited to the suffering child. Adults who are affected by a facial tic encounter significant challenges in managing this problem. These people often struggle with significant social difficulties. In some cases, a person can teach themselves to identify the onset and master the impulse that initiates the facial tic. Even this, however, can result in intense emotional and physical energy drains. Low self-esteem is often a major issue with which these people wrestle. Often, these individuals struggle with low self-esteem.

Grownups who experience cessation of the agonizing effects of facial grimaces and other tics are afforded with an opportunity for social rebirth. Their view of themselves changes, and they no longer are afraid to experience life at its fullest. Young people who overcome the effects of this disorder can be freed from the overwhelming emotional pain that cripples their social lives, and experience childhood with joy instead of psychic pain.

Sometimes, medications, such as mildly sedating drugs, help individuals manage this problem. While the medications may lessen the incidence of these symptoms, the medications themselves can often cause undesired side effects. For this reason, individuals frequently turn alternative treatments to assist them in treating their condition.

Two alternatives that have provided exciting potential in assisting people to control facial tics are hypnotherapy and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). These therapies take advantages of the strength of the individual’s unconscious mind to help them redirect the spasm. Since these treatments identify and treat the source of the problem through intervening in the unconscious where the problem originates, they are significantly more beneficial than traditional therapy methods that just attempt to control eye blinking, mouth twitches, squinting, facial grimacing, facial twitches, grunting, or other types of impulsive behavior.

Hypnosis helps the person being treated to achieve a restful altered state and receive suggestions that assist them to release tension. Since tics are caused by suppressed tension within a person’s body, release of the tension helps them to successfully manage this behavior. After several sessions, the client should be able to experience the ability to cope with tension successfully.

Those therapists who employ NLP assist the client to channel his or her conscious will to utilize stressful thoughts as triggers for relaxing thoughts. Moreover, the person learns to use a non-related body part, such as a toe, to release the anxiety that would in other circumstances be manifested by the facial tic. This technique allows individuals to manage tension without resorting to the embarrassing impulse.

Another benefit of both these is that the person being treated is not subjected to adverse effects from medication type therapies. Indeed, both hypnotherapy and NLP are often perceived as the primary treatment for individuals who suffer from tics, such as nose wrinkling, or throat clearing, because these interventions do not have undesirable side effects. This avoids considerable anguish and distress for the affected person.

Summary: Facial tics are often socially damaging and may yield extreme consequences. Male children are most likely to exhibit this problem, which can last into adult life; however girls may also experience struggles with this. While several treatment approaches exist, hypnosis and NLP appear to be the safest options, because they do not cause undesirable side effects and are very efficacious.