The Psychopathology of Gilles de la Tourette's Syndrome

Psychiatric and psychological evaluations were performed for 34 patients with Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome. The major psychopathological factors reported in the literature as being etiologic to Tourette's syndrome were not confirmed by the authors' data. Although many patients exhibited some of these traits, the traits appeared to be a psychological response to the illness rather than a factor in the etiology. The authors concluded that psychopathological and dynamic factors were unimportant in the etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of Tourette's syndrome.