Challenges in the Diagnosis and Assessment in Patients with Tourette Syndrome and Comorbid Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Tourette syndrome (TS) is characterized by the presence of vocal and motor tics with an onset in childhood. In almost 80% of patients psychiatric comorbidities coexist, particularly, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or behavior (OCB), depression, anxiety, rage attacks, and self-injurious behaviour (SIB). In this review, we discuss current state of the art regarding diagnosis and assessment of tics and OCD in patients with TS as well as challenges related to differential diagnosis between tics and OCD-related phenomena based on a systematic literature search. While in most cases clinical symptoms can be easily classified as either tics or OCB/OCD, some phenomena lay on the frontier between tics and compulsions/obsessions. For example, compulsions may resemble tics and, vice versa, sequences of motor tics may be misdiagnosed as compulsions. Accordingly, the terms “compulsive tics” and “cognitive tics” have been introduced. The most common and typical OCD symptom in patients with TS are “just right” phenomena, which also may show an overlap with tics, since patients may perform tics repeatedly until this feeling is achieved. Similarly, repetitive behaviors in patients with TS may manifest in a more “tic-like” or a more “OCD-like” type. Furthermore, SIB shows similarities with both tics and OCD. Until today, it is unclear how to classify this symptom best, although from most recent research a closer relationship between SIB and tics is suggested. In this review, in addition, we illustrate differences of the clinical spectrum of OCD in patients with TS compared to those with “pure OCD” without tics. To assess tics, the revised version of the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS-R) should be used, while for the assessment of OCD, the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Scale (Y-BOCS) is recommended. Finally, we briefly summarize treatment strategies for tics and OCB/OCD in patients with TS.