Massed negative practice is a proposed treatment for the
tic
A tic is a sudden, repetitive, nonrhythmic motor movement or vocalization involving discrete muscle groups.American Psychiatric Association (2000)DSM-IV-TR: Tourette's Disorder.''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', 4th ed., ...
s of
Tourette syndrome
Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...
in which the individual with Tourette's "practices" tics continuously until a conditioned level of fatigue is reached. It is based upon the Hullian learning theory, which holds that tics are "maladaptive habits that are strengthened by repetition and can be replaced by the strengthening of more adaptive habits (i.e., not having tics)".
[Woods DW, Himle MB, Conelea CA. Behavior therapy: other interventions for tic disorders. ''Adv Neurol.'' 2006;99:234–40. ] There is little evidence supporting its efficacy in the
treatment of tics.
[Singer HS. "Tourette's syndrome: from behaviour to biology". ''Lancet Neurol.'' 2005 Mar;4(3):149–59. ]
References
Behavior therapy
Behavior modification
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