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Obsessions consist of repetitive unwanted or bothersome thoughts. Compulsive and ritualistic behaviors are when the person feels that something must be done over and over and/or in a certain way. Research shows 50-60% of persons with Tourette Syndrome also have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
ObsessionsAggressive thoughts, images, impulses Concern about dirt or germsConcern with colors of special significance Focusing on specific numbers Mental coprolalia (sexual thoughts, images, impulses) Need for symmetry, exactness, cleanliness, order Need to experience sensations (skin cut or burned) Need to have feeling of JUST RIGHT Need to know or remember things Overfocusing on minute details Overfocusing on moral issues (right/wrong, fairness) Overfocusing on one idea or action Preoccupation with knives, scissors, blood Thinking about food and eating Thinking about forbidden behaviors Thinking about hoarding or collecting Worrying about harming self or others Worrying that something terrible might happen (fire, death) Behavioral ConcernsDefiant behaviorMood changes Oppositional behavior Overaction Poor impulse control Quick temper |
CompulsionsAdjusting clothes to feel just right (socks, sleeves)Biting nails Checking and rechecking (doors, locks, windows, the stove) Constantly fiddling with objects or clothes Coprolalia (obscenities or other socially unacceptable phrases) Copropraxia (obscene gestures) Counting objects over and over again Counting or grouping objects Cracking knuckles Cutting or burning skin Echolalia (repeating others' words) Echopraxia (mimicking others) Erasing repeatedly Evening things up (touching with one hand then the other) Excessive handwashing, bathing, cleaning Excessively ordering and arranging objects Licking or biting others Need to finish verbalizations if interrupted Need to say or do what told not to say or do Need to start over if interrupted Palilalia (repeating one's own words) Persevering on a task (can't "let go") Picking skin/sores Playing video games over and over in the mind Repeatedly asking same question Repeating actions (in/out the door, up/down from chair) Repeating sounds, words, numbers, music to oneself Responding unnecessarily to verbalizations Sexually touching others Sexually touching self Sniffing or smelling hands or objects Stealing Sucking thumb Touching objects an exact number of times Touching objects, others, self, wounds Unable to change to new task or activity Vomiting Writing and rewriting until "perfect" |
This page based on a handout designed by Becky Ottinger, Education Consultant for the Kansas City Chapter of the Tourette Syndrome Association.