A clinical pharmacological approach to treating Tourette syndrome in children and adolescents.

Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric movement disorder characterized by the presence of multiple motor and phonic tics. Monoamine neurotransmitter dysfunction has been implicated in the expression of the condition. Standard as well as novel pharmacologic treatments for TS as a sole entity or as a condition co-morbid with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) target these presumed neurotransmitter abnormalities. Choice of a specific medication is also predicated upon an individual patient's symptom profile, a cost-benefit analysis of desired effects versus side effects, and the impact on co-morbid conditions. Maximum involvement of the patient and parent or significant other is encouraged. It is emphasized that pharmacologic treatment is primarily symptomatic, usually not affecting the longer term outcome of specific syndromes per se. The integration of pharmacologic with psychoeducational interventions is encouraged.