Facial Tics - Manifestation And Hypnotherapy Treatments

Facial tics are characterized by abrupt, apparently uncontrolled muscle contractions of entire muscle groups in the face and neck region. These contractions are frequently recurring in nature, and appear to have no valid point. Most tics are exaggerated eye blinking, squinting, nose wrinkling, facial grimacing or even vocalizations such as throat clearing or grunting. Tics often begin during childhood, and often resolve as a child ages. This is not always the case, though, and many people continue to experience tics as they enter adulthood.

Tics often increase in occurrence as a sufferer feels tension or discomfort. Victims who suffer from tics tell us that they are able to sense a tic as it approaches. It's often described as an overwhelming feeling of tension and the urge to perform the tic to eliminate the tension; somewhat akin to the approaching urge to yawn or sneeze which relieves the victim. Controlling a tic can cause tension, which can lead to the trigger of another tic. Tics are often described as being involuntary but research and reports from sufferers indicates they are indeed voluntary motions that can be controlled by the sufferer.

A tic can be seen as a simple tic, as in facial grimaces, mouth twitches or grunting or can be more complex such as is seen a lot in Tourette syndrome. Simple tics are more usual than complex tics, but can be just as discomforting to the individual; while a facial tic does not cause physical pain to the sufferer, it often causes mental distress or social problems.

Children, in particular, can have a difficult time living with a tic due to mocking from other children, or teachers who don't fully know the difficult situation the child is in. While tics are often described as not being totally involuntary, control of a tic is difficult to establish, especially for children. Children often do not establish the skills to recognize a tic onset as well as an adult.

Adults often face grave trouble in their lives when living with a facial tic. Social problems are very common, and even when tics are generally controlled the adult can become very tired by the constant need to identify the onset of and control the tic impulse. Adults and children alike may suffer from self-worth or self-esteem issues due to their continuous suffering from a disease that often causes them to become social outcasts.

Relieving a person of the distress of a facial tic can change that person's life. Self-worth often improves, and social anxiety is no longer a strength holding a person back from experiencing a full life. In children, relieving a tic may allow the child to develop with less stress while he/she has a happier childhood.

Over the years, many treatments for tics have been applied with varying degrees of achievement. Psychotherapy or counseling can help discover the emotional causes of a tic, and may help someone better understand how to resist the urge to perform their tic. Sedatives and other forms of medication are sometimes successful in cases of simple tics. These meds often come saddled with negative side effects, so many people look for alternative treatments.

Hypnotherapy and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) methods have been developed particularly for the purpose of overcoming tics. Since facial tics are not firmly unconscious in nature, these treatments aim to change the sufferer's unconscious response to the onset of a tic episode such as facial grimacing or throat clearing. In a large number of cases this can be accomplished by allowing the unconscious mind to abort the onset of the tic. In some extreme cases, however, the victim's response will be redirected to some innocuous portion of the body such as twitching a toe instead of facial muscles.

Facial tics can be an uncomfortable life-affecting problem. Children and adults alike can suffer greatly from the incidence of a facial tic such as grunting, nose wrinkling, facial grimaces, mouth twitches, squinting or eye blinking. Eliminating a facial tic can prove very advantageous to the sufferer on an emotional level.

Although many treatments have been developed to thwart facial tics, Self-hypnosis and NLP aim to utilize natural unconscious methods of redirecting the tic response. This type of therapy has great benefit over other methods such as counseling, which may not treat the tic behavior at all, or attempt to change the conscious response to tic behavior.

Self-hypnosis and NLP also do not experience the unwanted side effects of drugs. This beneficial method of treatment can also cut tension and anxiety in the victim's life, thereby both reducing the impulse to form a tic and proving a benefit in everyday life. Due to these factors, Self-hypnosis and NLP are often the safest, most preferred methods of treatment for tic sufferers.