Facial tics are brief, repetitive, irregular spasms of the muscles of the face. They are very varied, but the most usual ones are facial grimacing, eye blinking, mouth twitches, nose wrinkling, squinting as well as throat clearing and grunting. These tics are often symptomatic of neurological conditions such as Tourette syndrome. They most often happen during childhood and may disappear within some weeks, even though some can last indefinitely.
The causing factors of facial tics still are not fully understood, but some things are suspected of triggering or worsening the symptoms. Tics may be caused by some nutritional deficiencies such as a magnesium insufficiency, but they are also very often symptoms of other conditions such as Tourette syndrome, whose causes are most likely neurological, and, to a certain extent, genetically inherited. Stress and anxiety have also been proven to trigger and considerably increase the frequency of facial tics.
Facial tics can be difficult to deal with everyday especially for children. Schoolmates, teachers and even sometimes parents, might not be able to understand how hard it is to try to hold back tics, especially for a long time period such as for example a class. People will very often ask the child to "quit it", or might even make fun of him or her because of the tics.
From facial grimaces to eye blinking, tics always feel inappropriate and embarrassing for children and adults alike. It is also exhausting when one must try to control them constantly. This obsession might cause you to become overly self-critical and you might thus start to lose confidence in yourself or to develop some type of social anxiety.
It is nonetheless possible to eliminate this uneasiness and to avoid other people's uncomfortable stares. There are ways to considerably reduce, and sometimes definitely cure, facial ticks, in order to regain your peace of mind and have a completely normal life. You may never have to be concerned anymore about facial grimaces or handling any irritating twitches.
Facial tics are usually left untreated or, in some acute cases or when the tics are related to Tourette syndrome, patients may be given neuroleptics which are also given to treat conditions such as attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorders. These drugs were not developed to cure facial tics specifically and can not always work.
Furthermore, they are known to have several adverse effects both on the short and long term. Depression, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, weight gain and anxiety are only some of the numerous adverse effects which are associated with such drugs. Some of them can even worsen tics in the long run! But there are however other ways of treating facial tics that are totally natural and void of adverse effects.
Methods that work with hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) have been developed specifically for the purpose of treating facial tics. They can help you reduce them over time. In order to understand how those methods work it is important to know that tics are not a purely physical disorder and are not fully involuntary either. They are a response to an unconscious impulse to do the movement of the tic. This impulse disagreeably builds up as you try to hold back from performing the movement. These urges also grow in frequency and intensity alike when the patient feels stress or anxiety or when he is placed in a particular situation.
Facial tics are a way to relieve pressure when you are anxious or are facing a stressful environment. Such an unconscious association can be treated with NLP and hypnosis since they are able to alter the type of behavior your unconscious triggers when you are placed in certain situations. If acute, the therapist will eliminate the facial tic by suggesting the unconscious make you move your toe instead. When you twitch your toe it is not apparent or visible to people around you. Hypnosis also makes you become a lot more relaxed overall, so it is a stress relieving experience. It will help you suppress both the stress and anxiety that make facial tics worse.
There are many different types of facial tics: eye blinking, nose wrinkling, mouth twitches, squinting, facial grimacing, grunting or throat clearing. If tics have physical causes, there are also as we have seen, very strong psychological factors. Stress and anxiety are doubtlessly the most important of these factors. Tics have their roots in the unconscious mind as a response to states of anxiety and stress; with self-hypnosis and NLP you are able to change this association. Stress and anxiety may also be efficaciously fought on the long term with the stress relieving and relaxing techniques of hypnotherapy, which will considerably diminish the occurrence of facial tics.
Alan B. Densky, CH offers facial tic hypnotherapy programs as well as a broad range of popular titles for all anxiety related symptoms. For delight and learning visit his Free hypnotherapy video library at his Neuro-VISION hypnosis website.
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