Neurocognitive functioning in Tourette syndrome (TS) has been the subject of intensive research in the past 30 years. A variety of impairments, presumably related to frontal and frontostriatal dysfunctions, have been observed. These impairments were found in various domains, such as attention, memory, executive functions, language, motor and visuomotor functions, among others. In line with contemporary research, other neurocognitive domains have recently been explored in TS, bringing evidence of altered social reasoning, for instance. Therefore, the aims of this review are to give an overview of the neuropsychological dimensions of TS, to report how neuropsychological functions evolve from childhood to adulthood, and to explain how various confounding factors can affect TS patients’ performance in neuropsychological tasks. Finally, an important contribution of this review is to show how recent research has confirmed or changed our beliefs about neuropsychological functioning in TS.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the incidence of distress in youth, some children show increased resilience, emphasizing the need to better understand the predictors of distress in you... This longitudinal study conducted in Quebec, Canada shows that healthy youth endorsing elevated socio-emotional vulnerability, as assessed by a composite score, report greater post-traumatic stress... Antecedentes: Aunque la pandemia de COVID-19 ha aumentado la incidencia de angustia en jóvenes, algunos niños muestran una mayor resiliencia, relevando la necesidad de comprender mejor los predicto... 背景: 尽管 COVID-19 疫情增加了青年精神痛苦的发生率, 一些儿童表现出更强的心理韧性, 这强调需要更好地了解青年精神痛苦的预测因素。目的: 本纵向研究旨在评估已知的应激相关精神病理学的社会情绪预测因素, 即焦虑敏感性, 焦虑特征, 对不确定性的不容忍和反刍, 对健康青年COVID 相关困扰的综合影响。方法: 重新联系了 92 对之前参加过 2017 年至 2019 年 (T0) 期...

Tourette disorder (TD) is characterized by motor and vocal tics and children with TD tend to present a lower quality of life than neurotypical children. This study applied a manualized treatment for childhood tics disorder Facotik to a consecutive case series of children aged 8-12 years. The Facotik therapy was adapted from the adult Cognitive and Psychophysiological program validated on a range of subtypes of tics. This approach aims to modify the cognitive-behavioral and physiological processes against which the tic occurs rather than only addressing the tic behavior. The Facotik therapy lasted 12-14 weeks. Each week 90-minute session contained 20 minutes of parental training. The therapy for children followed 10 stages including: awareness training; improving motor control; modifying style of planning; cognitive and behavioral restructuring; and relapse prevention. Thirteen children were recruited as consecutive referrals from the general population and seven cases completed therapy and post-treatment measures. Overall results showed a significant decrease in symptom severity as measured by the YGTSS and the TSGS. However, there was a discrepancy between parent and child rating, with some children perceiving an increase in tics, possibly due to improvement of awareness along therapy. They were also individual changes on adaptive aspects of behavior as measured with the BASC-2, and there was variability among children. All children maintained or improved self-esteem post treatment. The results confirm the conclusion of a previous pilot study which contributed to the adaptation of the adult therapy. In summary, the Facotik therapy reduced tics in children. These results underline that addressing processes underlying tics may complement approaches which target tics specifically.

Background: Tourette syndrome (TS) can be accompanied by neurocognitive impairment. Only a few studies have focused on executive function assessment in TS using design fluency, providing preliminary results. This study aimed to characterize the detailed design fluency profile of children with TS compared with neurotypical children, while addressing the central concern of frequent comorbidities in studies on TS by considering tic severity and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and diagnosis. Methods: Sixty-one children aged between 6 and 15 years participated and were divided into a TS group (n = 28 (with ADHD n = 15)) and a control group (n = 33). Our objective was addressed by examining a wide range of measures of the Five-Point-Test, presumably sensitive to frontostriatal dysfunction. The total number of designs, repetitions, repetition ratio, unique designs, and numerical, spatial, and total strategies were examined for the total duration of the test (global measures) and at five equal time intervals (process measures). Results: The TS group produced significantly fewer numerical strategies. Groups did not differ in other global or process measures. ADHD did not affect performance. Conclusions: Children with TS do not inherently show general executive dysfunction but may present with subtle neurocognitive characteristics here revealed by comprehensive design fluency profiles.