Tourette and tic disorders in ICD-11: standing at the diagnostic crossroads

• Main Authors: Douglas W. Woods, Per H. Thomsen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Associação Brasileira de Psiquiatria (ABP) 2014-01-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry
• Subjects: Tourette disorder; diagnosis and classification; obsessive-compulsive disorder; neurology; behavioral neurology
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-44462014000400051&lng=en&tlng=en

This article reflects discussion by the WHO ICD-11 Working Group on the Classification of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. After reviewing the historical classification of tic disorders, this article discusses their placement in ICD-11. Existing problems with diagnostic labels and criteria, appropriate placement of the tic disorders category within the ICD-11 system, and pragmatic factors affecting classification are reviewed. The article ends with recommendations to (a) maintain consistency with the DSM-5 diagnostic labels for tic disorders, (b) add a minimum duration guideline for a provisional tic disorder diagnosis, (c) remove the multiple motor tic guideline for the diagnosis of Tourette disorder, and (d) co-parent the tic disorder diagnoses in the disorders of the nervous system and the mental and behavioral disorders categories, with secondary co-parenting in the obsessive-compulsive and related disorders and neurodevelopmental disorders sections.