A case of tic who showed marked improvement by brief psychosomatic approach

A 14-year-old boy visited our clinic in August, 1994 because of a persistent severe tic which had begun 4 years earlier. He had been administered Haloperidol with no effect. No abnormality was found on preceding EEG and brain CT. On psychological evaluation, his strict father always preached him not to make a compromise with everything. Therefore he came to have an alexithymic, overadaptive personality and showed several superior academic achievements. However, he had an inferiority complex regarding physical exercise which he denied. It seemed that his symptom was related to these psychological factors. After psychosomatic therapy including family counseling, the patient showed rapid improvement. His parents understood patient's psychological stress, his mind-body relationship and accepted him with supportive attitudes. Then the patient began to assert himself to his parents and learned to achieve self-control. In conclusion, it is important to practice a psychosomatic approach for parents as well as patients when we treat children with psychosomatic diseases.