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A Cursing Brain? The Histories of Tourette Syndrome, by Howard I. Kushner

Part of: BJPsych Advances Memory Lane Articles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2025

Asit B. Biswas Open the ORCID record for Asit B. Biswas [Opens in a new window] ,
Binod K. Singhania  and
Reza Kiani
Asit B. Biswas*
Affiliation:
Consultant psychiatrist with Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, working in the Agnes Unit, Leicester, UK and an honorary professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
Binod K. Singhania
Affiliation:
Consultant neurosurgeon in the Centre of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Kolkata, India.
Reza Kiani
Affiliation:
Honorary senior lecturer in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Leicester, Leicester, UK and a consultant psychiatrist with the Huntington Disease Service, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Leicester, UK.
*
Correspondence Asit B. Biswas. Email: [email protected]
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Summary

Kushner's monograph (published in 2000) explores clinicians’ developing understanding of a syndrome first described 200 years ago. This article highlights changing concepts of the disorder, its aetiology and treatment over its long history, as described by Kushner, and considers the current differential diagnosis of DSM-5 ‘Tourette's disorder’. It points out Kushner's astute observation that the clinical syndrome originally described by Itard and Gilles de la Tourette as ‘maladie des tics’ is not what is defined in the 21st century as Tourette syndrome.

Keywords

Tic disordersethicsinvoluntary movementsexpert by experienceTourette syndrome
Type
Memory Lane
Information
BJPsych Advances , First View , pp. 1 - 3
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal College of Psychiatrists

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References

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