The effect of shorter exposure versus prolonged exposure on treatment outcome in Tourette syndrome and chronic tic disorders – an open trial

Abstract

Background: Exposure and response prevention has shown to be an effective strategy and is considered a first-line intervention in the behavioural treatment of tic disorders. Prior research demonstrated significant tic reduction after 12 two hour sessions.

Objective: In this open trial, the question is addressed whether, relative to these prolonged sessions, exposure sessions of shorter duration yield differential outcome for patients with tic disorders.

Methods: A total of 29 patients diagnosed with Tourette syndrome (TS) or chronic tic disorder were treated with shorter exposure sessions (1 h), and these data were compared to the data from a study about prolonged exposure (2 h, n = 21). Outcome was measured by the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS).

Results: Results suggest that after taking the difference in illness duration between the two groups into account, the effectiveness of shorter exposure sessions is not inferior to that of prolonged exposure.

Conclusions: Results suggest that treatment with shorter exposure might be more efficient and more patients can be reached. Future research is needed to gain more insight into the mechanisms underlying the efficacy of behavioural treatments for tics.

Keywords:

• Tourette syndrome
• tic disorders
• exposure and response prevention (ERP)
• behavioural therapy
• exposure length

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Mrs. Verdellen for sharing her data for this research, and the HSK Group for making this research possible within their patient population. Furthermore, thanks to all patients and therapists who participated in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.