Can you imagine a life where you’re afraid to go out in public or spend time with your friends? You would like so desperately to live a normal life, but you are never sure when you will begin making grunting noises, swearing, smacking your lips or twitching your nose. You live a life of quiet desperation, always wanting to be part of things, but afraid that your health problem will make you an instant source of speculation or ridicule.
There seems to be two categories where people suffer from facial tics. In one category we have tics caused by stress. In the other category, we have tics caused by Tourette’s Syndrome that are made worse by stress.
Tourette’s Syndrome is emotionally debilitating and stressful, as well as humiliating and physically exhausting. Sufferers are on constant alert, never knowing when they will be overwhelmed by these uncontrollable facial tics and twitches. Many are afraid to form close friendships and relationships because of these unintended outbursts.
Doctors often prescribe medicines to help control the facial tics and muscle spasms associated with Tourette’s Syndrome. These anxiety medications and antidepressants, however, can cause side effects of their own, such as drowsiness, coordination problems, and forgetfulness. Taking these medicines and then engaging in work or social activities can be difficult, and potentially dangerous.
The truth is, there really aren’t any good medicines or medical therapies that are completely successful at treating this medical problem. Doctors don’t understand it, and often prescribe sufferers medications used to treat people with serious mental illnesses. In fact, the goal of the medical community is to manage the symptoms as effectively as possible, rather than to eliminate them altogether.
This condition is so poorly understood that no one can claim to have all of the answers for every person suffering from Tourette Syndrome. Through NLP techniques, however, practitioners work to help people with facial tics relive memories of peaceful, tranquil times in their lives. Clients are taught, through techniques such as anchoring and the flash, to recall these moments in times of anxiety or stress.
Thus, when these times occur, clients are virtually unable to feel stressed or anxious. Because they do not experience anxiety, people with Tourette’s Syndrome are much less likely to have problems with facial tics or uncontrollable muscle spasms. And people who are experiencing facial tics purely as a symptom of stress are almost always able to cure their tics completely.
Although because of Tourette’s, NLP and hypnosis are not 100 percent successful in treating all people with this problem, they do offer the benefit of a medication-free treatment alternative that is in a majority of cases actually more successful than medicine. And in cases where facial tics are caused by stress rather than by Tourette’s, these modalities are often 100 percent effective at eliminating the tics.
If you or someone you love suffers from either Tourette Syndrome, or stress based facial tics, take a moment to find out more about how NLP and hypnosis for tics can help you experience life and relationships – without feeling like a zombie on medication!
