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Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome

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Current Themes in Psychiatry in Theory and Practice

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Abstract

Tourette syndrome (TS) has a distinctive history — originally described in a noble woman, the Marquise de Dampierre in 1825 by Itard, with a series of several more patients presented by Gilles de la Tourette in 1885 from the Salpêtrière hospital, probably under the wing of Charcot. The Marquise was included in this second series, she lived to an old age and was socially very confined by her involuntary swearing. The condition was considered a very rare and bizarre curiosity for many years, with few case reports and what we would consider today to be an inappropriate and unfortunate psychodynamic interpretation and consequent treatment. In the 1970s there was a resurgence of interest in New York. By the 1980s the generally accepted prevalence was 1 in 2000 but, more recently, as described below, this has been found to be a serious underestimate.

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Authors
  1. Jeremy S. Stern
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  2. Mary M. Robertson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. St George’s Hospital, London, UK

    Niruj Agrawal

  2. St Helier Hospital, Carshalton, UK

    Jim Bolton

  3. Keats House, London, UK

    Raghunandan Gaind

Copyright information

© 2012 Jeremy S. Stern and Mary M. Robertson

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Cite this chapter

Stern, J.S., Robertson, M.M. (2012). Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome. In: Agrawal, N., Bolton, J., Gaind, R. (eds) Current Themes in Psychiatry in Theory and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230317062_8

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