Music-dance-imaging training for young adults with Tourette Syndrome

Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a childhood-onset neurobehavioral disorder, which is characterized by motor and sound tics. Current studies have identified some specific factors that lead to tic reduction, such as relaxation, concentration, musical activities, and the execution of voluntary and finalistic movements. Patients with TS show a higher level of creativity than other people, which can be channeled, together with their excessive motor energy, into various functional activities that favor the reduction of tics. Moreover, in the last decades, music has been used as a rehabilitative tool, since it has shown to induce a positive effect on TS patients’ mood and to facilitate the performance of fluid and rhythmic voluntary movements. The present study refers to “Imagine, Tourette!”, a motor imagery, music-based intervention aimed at reducing the manifestation of motor and sound tics in adult TS patients. To test the specific effect of such a kind of training, 8 TS patients were exposed to one of two interventions: the experimental group performed motor tasks based on music whereas the control group performed motor tasks without the accompaniment of music. The hypothesis tested was that performing motor tasks accompanied by music could reduce the severity of tics and have an effect on patients’ mood more than simply performing motor tasks alone. The results supported the hypothesis: music played a specific effect on the manifestation of tics and on the patients’ mood, confirming its potentially positive role in motor interventions addressed to TS.