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.
Basal ganglia disease
Tourette syndrome is a disorder that is characterized by behavioral and motor tics, OCD, and Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). For this reason, it is commonly believed that pathologies involving limbic, associative, and motor circuits of the basal ganglia are likely. Since the realization that syndromes such as Tourette Syndrome and OCD are caused by dysfunction of the non-motor loops of basal ganglia circuits, new treatments for these disorders, based on treatments originally designed to treat movement disorders are being developed.