“How do I explain something I don’t understand?”: Young people’s experiences of functional tics Functional tics (FTs) are sudden, involuntary movements or vocalisations resembling those in Tourette Syndrome but thought to arise from functional neurological mechanisms. Since the COVID-19 pande...

A very important read for clinicians working with functional tic like behaviours! Lived experience from those affected helping clinicians to understand more.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ESSTS | Webinars | Non-invasive brain stimulation in Tourette Syndrome: where are we at? A tour-de-force presentation by Davide Martino! By Natalia Szejko

Non-invasive brain stimulation in Tourette Syndrome: where are we at?
Davide Martino provides an in-depth yet broad overview of the state-of-the-art in non-invasive brain stimulation for tics and TS, and points to where this, still mostly experimental field, is headed.
www.essts.org/news/non-inv...

ESSTS | Podcasts | Eye blinking abnormalities in Tourette syndrome: blink more or blink differently? Insights from the latest research with Dr Verrel and Dr Münchau By Christelle Nilles

For this episode 🎙️ 🎧 we sit down with Dr Verrel and Dr Münchau to discuss their latest research on eye-blinking abnormalities in TS. From manual analysis to machine learning, they explore how high-resolution video is helping identify potential new biomarkers for TS.
www.essts.org/news/eye-bli...

Ljubljana 2026 conference | Board elections 2026 Ljubljana 2026 conference | Board elections 2026

View our newsletter and bookmark important deadlines:
📅 29 March > Submissions (abstracts, clinical videos, travel grants, Professor Mary Robertson Award entries)
📅 5 April > Early 🐥 ⏰
📅 30 April > ESSTS Board candidacies
See you in the...City of Dragons!
khzo-zcmp.campaign-view.eu/ua/SharedVie...

Call for action: misinformation about tourette syndrome from major media network - European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry -

"Call for action: misinformation about Tourette syndrome from major media network".
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Differentiating primary tic disorders such as TS from FTLB is not just an academic exercise; it serves multiple vital purposes and principles for patients, families, and clinicians.

ESSTS | Awards & Grants | Apply for the Mary Robertson travel grants for Ljubljana 2026 Are you a junior researcher contemplating joining us in Ljubljana? By the ESSTS Board

🎓 Calling junior TS researchers!
The Mary Robertson Travel Grants are back for Ljubljana 2026!
Open to early-career researchers presenting at our upcoming conference, 17-19 June 2026.
www.essts.org/news/apply-f...

ESSTS | Podcasts | Providing support for families and healthcare professionals: the associations' role and outreach How targeted support and educational initiatives can significantly impact families and healthcare providers dealing with Tourette Syndrome By Christelle Nilles

For our last podcast 🎧 🎙️ of the year, Christelle Nilles speaks with Julian Fletcher, program coordinator for the Tourette OCD Alberta Network.
www.essts.org/news/providi...

ESSTS | Webinars | Sensory Challenges in Tourette Syndrome Focusing on sensory sensitivities, a commonly experienced co-occurring condition By Natalia Szejko

Last webinar of the year!
Dr Tamsin Owen focuses on sensory sensitivities, a commonly experienced co-occurring condition, in individuals with Tourette Syndrome. It gives a brief overview of the literature and explores different management options.
www.essts.org/news/sensory...

ESSTS | Webinars | Body-focused, repetitive behaviours An overview of body-focused repetitive behaviours in the context of comorbidity with tic disorders: classification, underlying mechanisms and shared characteristics By Natalia Szejko

An overview of body-focused repetitive behaviours in the context of comorbidity with tic disorders: classification, underlying mechanisms and shared characteristics.
www.essts.org/news/body-fo...

ESSTS | General info | Board Elections 2026 Election year ahead: contributing meaningfully to the future of ESSTS! By the Administrator

📣 Election year ahead, call for candidacies!

www.essts.org/news/board-e...

Tourette syndrome research highlights from 2024 - PubMed We summarize research reports from 2024 relevant to Tourette syndrome, which the authors consider the most important or interesting. This working draft aims to submit this content for publication around the beginning of 2025 in the yearly Tourette Syndrome Research Highlights series on F1000Research …

Finally on PubMed! 🔗
Tourette syndrome research highlights from 2024
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41142961/

ESSTS | Webinars | Tic Disorder Symptoms and Acquired Brain Injury Shedding light into an intriguing topic By Natalia Szejko

"Tic Disorder Symptoms and Acquired Brain Injury"
Dr Laavanya Damodaran believes that robust assessments, investigations, treatments and detailed recording of these ABI cases with a longitudinal follow-up study design, might shed more light into this intriguing topic.
www.essts.org/news/tic-dis...

ESSTS | Webinars | Sex Differences in Natural History and Health Outcomes Among Individuals with Tic Disorders This webinar presents the results of research published earlier in 2025 on Neurology Journals, highlighting sex disparities where females with Tourette Syndrome are less likely to be formally diagnose...

www.essts.org/news/sex-dif...

ESSTS | Webinars | Physical exercise and tic disorders This webinar discusses the few studies which investigate the relationship between physical exercise and tic disorders, also considering the potential implications on commonly co-occurring conditions. ...

"Physical exercise and tic disorders"
Dr Tara Murphy discusses the few studies which investigate the relationship between physical exercise and tic disorders, considering as well the potential implications on commonly co-occurring conditions.
www.essts.org/news/physica...

"Bridging perspectives: navigating Tourette syndrome and OCD", by the SickKids Tics and Tourette Clinic and the Tourette OCD Alberta Network, this symposium brings together physicians, allied health professionals and people with lived experience with TS and/or OCD.
www.eventbrite.ca/e/bridging-p...

The diagnostic and therapeutic journey of Tourette syndrome: Thematic analysis of the difficulties experienced by parents of patients - PubMed Our study sheds light on how the parents of children with TS experience the diagnostic and therapeutic journey. By highlighting recurrent themes experienced by families, we hope that the results will ...

A paper fresh off the press from France 🇫🇷 about the –alas still difficult– diagnostic and therapeutic journey of individuals with TS.
Hopefully some food for thought and, more importantly, action:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40234118/

ESSTS | Meetings | The Mary Robertson Travel Grants 2025 Habemus winners! By the ESSTS Board

We are bearing exciting news; please meet the Mary Robertson Travel Grant winners for 2025!
(in alphabetical order)
-Lilian Ebner, USA
-Simon Morand-Beaulieu, Canada
-Katarzyna Rylska, Poland
-Katharina Schindlbeck, Germany
#ESSTS2025 🇬🇷 🦉 ☀️
www.essts.org/news/the-mar...

ESSTS | Podcasts | Episode 8: Median nerve stimulation in tic disorders A long-awaited episode with Professor Stephen Jackson and Dr Barbara Morera from the University of Nottingham and Neurotherapeutics Ltd. By Christelle Nilles

Median nerve stimulation in tic disorders.
A long-awaited episode 🎧 with Professor Stephen Jackson and Dr Bàrbara Morera, from the University of Nottingham and Neurotherapeutics Ltd.
www.essts.org/news/episode...

Image on early bird registration: deadline approaching!

Athens 2025, don't miss the 🕊️ early bird! ≈5 days to go!
(Includes virtual attendance)
www.essts.org/registration

Graphic for new submission deadline for clinical cases

📢 Update!
Athens 2025 | New submission deadline for clinical cases: Sunday, 16 March 2025 midnight 🦉 PDT
www.essts.org/registration...

ESSTS | Webinars | Language and social communication in children with Tourette syndrome Webinar by Dr Angela Feehan, speech-language pathologist and postdoctoral scholar at the University of Calgary By Natalia Szejko

New webinar available: "Language and social communication in children with Tourette syndrome."

Natalia Szejko's guest is Dr Angela Feehan, speech-language pathologist and a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Calgary.
www.essts.org/news/languag...

If you are joining us in Athens🦉☀️ this May, consider these 2 events:
-TS-school 2025 (in English), half-day intense training course on TS for professionals
www.essts.org/news/ts-scho...
-"Tics & Tourette syndrome at school" seminar (in Greek), for teachers & educators
www.essts.org/news/athens-...

Even if "it's all Greek to us"...we applaud Christina Batagia for her commitment and perseverance in founding Tourette Greece, (tourette.gr) our proud partners in the #Athens2025 ESSTS Conference!
Special thanks to Tics and Tourette Across the Globe for their continuous guidance and mentoring!

ESSTS | Webinars | Slips of the tongue in patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome Vocal tics remain largely unexplored, although speech production itself requires a high degree of cognitive control. Particularly coprolalia, the utterance of taboo words that are normally suppressed ...

First webinar of the year!

Natalia Szejko's guest is Carina Robert, neuroscientist and researcher from the University of Lübeck, who presents the article “Slips of the tongue in patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome”.
www.essts.org/news/slips-o...

Happy New Year from Athens!
The countdown has begun; Eugenides Foundation we will meet again in May! #TouretteConference
Wishing you all a year of health, peace and joy. ✨

Athens 2025 conference | News & announcements Athens 2025 conference | News & announcements - Description

Last newsletter for 2024... 🩵

khzo-zcmp.campaign-view.eu/ua/SharedVie...

The last 2 "Gilles is in the air" episodes 🎧 of the year:
-"Symptom severity and health impacts of functional tic-like behaviours in youth", with Lindsay Berg
www.essts.org/news/episode...
-"Gilles de la Tourette syndrome in pregnancy", with Dr Anna Castrioto
www.essts.org/news/episode...

Bearing webinars & podcasts (next in line!) 🎁
-Stereotypies and/or tics?
With Dr Andrea E. Cavanna
www.essts.org/news/stereot...
-Secondary tics?
With Dr Alex Medina Escobar
www.essts.org/news/seconda...
@Natalia Szejko Thank you for 🧑‍🎄 🛷 ➡️ webinars!

Need a ride anyone ?
#TouretteWorldStage
#Varese2024
🇮🇹🛵
Can't wait to meet you!
@ti

#StretchYourLegs vol.III
🇫🇷➡️🇮🇹= ✅
Are you joining us in Varese?
✈️🚂🛵
Send us a photo from where your journey begins...
@SimonMBeaulieu
@ChristelleNlls @Natalia99510427 @AnnetHeijerman @Seonaidanderso2 @TTAGpatients @KJBinSTL
@TGD_Information