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Medical Treatments for TS                                              The subject began at 400uA and
             A chronic neurodevelopmental                                       moved to the device’s maximum of
           disorder, TS is characterized by tics:    In its more                500uA during the first day of treat-
           •  repetitive,                                                       ment. He ran the device at 500uA
           •  involuntary movements, and              advanced                  thereafter. The first day he ran the
                                                                                device for eight 20-minute sessions.
           •  vocalizations.                                                    He soon went to four sessions per
             These symptoms can have a             stages, TS can               day, and for the last sessions he
           significant impact on patients’ daily                                wore the device from one to three
           functioning across many domains        put jail security             daily sessions.
           (Eddy, Rickards & Cavanna, 2011).
             Of the pharmacological treat-        officers, as well             Findings
           ments available, dopamine antago-                                      The pretreatment assessment
           nists are most frequently prescribed    as inmates, at               scores averaged 4.3 points, suggest-
           for reducing tics. These include neu-                                ing a significant amount of emo-
           roleptics, benzamides, and atypical                                  tional stress and a high degree of tic
           antipsychotics. Other treatments—      risk for physical             expressions. However, his aver-
           those which modulate noradrenalin,                                   age scores began demonstrating a
           GABA and acetylcholine—have also              harm.                  steady increase of positive improve-
           been found somewhat helpful in                                       ment in his daily life experience. For
           reducing symptoms. Unfortunately,                                    example, at the end of the second
           the treatments frequently come with                                  day of treatment his average score
           significant side-effects. Counseling                                 was 7.7. By the completion of the
           can help with personal adjustment                                    10th day of treatment, his average
           efforts, but there is no research sug-  difficult symptom-related experi-  rating was 9.0 out of 10 with five of
           gesting it heals the disorder.    ence. Conversely, the maximum      the nine variables receiving scores
             One research study (Qiao et al.,   positive score of 10, expressed free-  of 10. His rating on the tics variable
           2015) examined the utilization of   dom from the symptom.            was 10.
           a noninvasive cortical stimulation   The cumulative scale on page 30    The subject, on his own, contin-
           device (CES) in adolescents suf-  was maintained by the subject’s    ued recording his daily assessments.
           fering with TS, and it revealed an   wife to reduce the influence of   By the end of day 20, his mean score
           increased positive activity in their   earlier daily ratings by the subject.   was 9.3. Five individual variables
           anterior cingulate cortex, caudate,   Each morning, the subject was   received ratings of 10 each, includ-
           and posterior cingulate cortex.   given a copy of the rating scale with   ing, again, the tics variable. His
           In addition, the subjects showed   blank entries for that day. That is,   wife reported that he eventually
           reduced activity in supplementary   the morning scale only showed an   began using the treatment once a
           motor areas compared to subjects   empty space for each of the nine   day, twice a week. She also pro-
           with TS who did not receive the   variables. All tics, including urges   vided quotes from the client that he
           CES treatment. Beyond the publica-  toward aggressive and violent    repeated frequently as the treat-
           tion by Qiao et.al. (2015), no other   behaviors, were addressed under   ment progressed. These included
           related published research was    the ninth variable, “tics.”        “I don’t hate anything anymore...
           located.                                                             except communists.” Also “I feel
                                             Treatment Application              like a completely new me.” Finally,
           Dependent Variable                   The typical research design,    “life-changing.” Four months after
             The dependent variable was a    using the CES device, involves     initiating the CES treatment, the
           self-assessment scale. It was devel-  the subject wearing the device 20   subject was employed as an aircraft
           oped by the principal researcher   minutes per day for 2 to 3 days per   maintenance technician and his
           and the subject. The daily self-  week. However, to personalize the   plan was to begin his training to
           assessment variables listed in the   treatment for the present subject,   become an aircraft mechanic.
           chart were chosen by the client and   permission was given for him to
           reflected symptoms directly related   vary both microamp volume (to the   Summary
           to his urges toward impulsively   level he found most helpful) and to   Individuals suffering with TS can
           violent actions, aggressive verbal-  choose the number of sessions per   be arrested and sent to local jails.
           izations, and emotional experiences.   day. The research design established   They may be seen as psychologi-
           A score of one represented the most   a 10-day limit on treatments.  cally defective individuals by jail


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