Treatment of Tourette syndrome
There is no cure for Tourette's and no medication which works universally for all individuals without significant adverse effects; knowledge and understanding are the best treatments available for tics. Management of the symptoms of Tourette's may include pharmacological, behavioral and psychological therapies. While pharmacological treatment is reserved for more severe symptoms, other types of treatments may help avoid or improve symptoms of depression or social isolation, and improve supportive family functioning. Educating the patient, family, and surrounding community (school, church, friends, etc.) is a key part of treatment.
Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome
Other television and film productions depicting persons with TS, or using coprolalia as a plot device, include an episode of "Ally McBeal", in which Anne Heche portrays a woman with Tourette's whose leg tic causes her to run over and kill her boyfriend; "An Angel on my Tree", an episode of "Touched by an Angel" in which a father commits manslaughter in reaction to an event that involved his son who had Tourette's; an episode of "The Simpsons", in which Bart Simpson is mentioned to claimed to have Tourette's to excuse himself from a test; and an episode of "South Park", "Le Petit Tourette", in which Eric Cartman pretends to have Tourette's to get away with saying offensive things. The episode received a mixed reaction from the Tourette Syndrome Association, which commented that it provided useful information while at the same time perpetuating outright myths about coprolalia and Tourette syndrome.