Facial tics are short, repetitive, sporadic twitches of the face's muscles. They can be very different, but the most usually seen are eye blinking, facial grimacing, mouth twitches, nose wrinkling, squinting along with grunting and throat clearing. Those tics are often symptomatic of neurological disorders like Tourette syndrome. They usually happen during childhood and may fade away within some weeks, even though some can last much longer.

The causes of facial tics are still not fully understood, but some things are suspected of triggering or worsening the symptoms. Tics may be caused by some nutritional deficiencies like a lack of magnesium, but they may also very often be symptoms of other conditions such as Tourette syndrome, whose causes are thought to be neurological, and, to a certain degree, genetically inherited. Stress and anxiety have also been proven to trigger and considerably aggravate the frequency of facial tics.

Facial tics are tough to deal with everyday particularly for a child. Schoolmates, teachers and even sometimes parents, may not be able to understand how hard it is to hold back tics, particularly for a long period of time such as for example a class. People will very often ask the child to "stop it", or may even mock him or her for having tics. 

From facial grimaces to eye blinking, tics usually feel embarrassing and inappropriate for adults and children alike. It is also toilsome when one must try to control them all the time. This obsession might cause you to become excessively self-critical and you might thus start to lose confidence in yourself and to develop some sort of social anxiety.

It is however possible to get rid of this uneasiness and to avoid other people's awkward looks. There are ways to greatly diminish, and even sometimes definitely cure, facial twitches, in order to regain your peace of mind and have a fully regular life. You might never have to be concerned anymore about facial grimaces or holding back any of those annoying twitches.

Facial tics are rarely treated or, in some severe cases or if the tics are shown to be caused by Tourette syndrome, patients may be prescribed antipsychotics which are also given to treat conditions like schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder or obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Those drugs were not developed to cure facial tics specifically and can not always work.

Moreover, they are known to have several adverse effects both in the short and long run. Insomnia, depression, sexual dysfunction, weight gain and anxiety are only some of the numerous adverse effects which can be caused by such drugs. Some of them can even aggravate tics in the long run! But there are however other ways of dealing with facial tics which are fully natural and free of adverse effects.

Methods which utilize hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) have been developed especially for the purpose of treating facial tics. They will help you reduce them over time. To understand why such methods work it is useful to know that tics are not an entirely physiological condition and are not totally involuntary either. They are an answer to an unconscious impulse to perform the movement of the tic. This desire disagreeably increases as you try to avoid performing the movement. Such urges also increase in both intensity and frequency if the patient is stressed or anxious or if placed in certain situations.

Facial tics are a way to relieve pressure when you are feeling anxious or are dealing with stressful conditions. This unconscious association can be cured with NLP and hypnosis as they are able to alter the sort of behavior your unconscious triggers when you are placed in certain situations. In severe cases, the therapist will eliminate the facial tic by suggesting the unconscious make you twitch your toe instead. When the toe moves it is not visible or apparent to the people around you. Hypnosis also allows you to become much more relaxed overall, so it is a soothing experience. It will help you eliminate both the stress and anxiety which aggravate facial tics.

Facial tics come in a lot of different forms: eye blinking, nose wrinkling, squinting, mouth twitches, facial grimacing, grunting or throat clearing. If tics have physiological causes, there are very strong emotional factors too. Stress and anxiety are certainly the most important of these factors. Tics have their roots in the unconscious mind as an answer to states of anxiety and stress; with self-hypnosis and NLP you will be able to change this association. Stress and anxiety can also be effectively fought in the long run with the appeasing, stress relieving techniques of hypnotherapy, which will considerably diminish the occurrence of facial tics.

Alan B. Densky, CH offers facial tick hypnosis MP3's as well as a large assortment of popular titles for all stress related symptoms. For pleasure and learning visit his Free hypnosis video library at his Best Hypnosis Downloads website.

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