...and scene! 300+ registrations, 32 countries, 19 time zones.
🙏 A heartfelt thank you to all our speakers, moderators, authors and ...time-zone defying attendees!!
Despite the constraints and challenges, this 13th European Conference was successfully organised both with fierce dedication and...love, to quote our board members' opening message.
You will find on this page the fruits of collaborative endeavours; session recordings with downloadable material, ePosters and a compilation of 38 excellent abstracts.
Enjoy the tour and we hope to see you in Lausanne next year! (9-11 June 2022)
Upon completion of the final oral presentation & poster rounds on the last day of the conference, attendees e-voted live for "Best of" on both categories.
The Professor Mary Robertson Award 2024 was presented by Mary Robertson herself with the long-standing support of Tourettes Action UK.
Upon completion of the final oral presentation & poster rounds on the last day of the conference, attendees e-voted live for "Best of" on both categories.
The Professor Mary Robertson Award 2023 was presented by Mary Robertson herself with the long-standing support of Tourettes Action UK.
Upon completion of the final oral presentation & poster rounds on the last day of the conference, attendees e-voted live for "Best of" on both categories.
The Professor Mary Robertson Award 2022 was presented by Jeremy Stern, Honorary Medical Director for Tourette's Action UK.
This year and for the first time, the audience e-voted live for the awards.
A loud 📢 thank you to all the authors who shared with us their hard work and exceeded our conservative expectations of abstract submissions this virtual year!
You will find below a comprehensive list of the Conference ePosters (titles in alphabetical order).
Click on "more info" to view the supporting material (videos & articles) that some of the authors have provided.
You will find below a digital version of the posters that were presented during the poster rounds. (titles sorted in alphabetical order)
Click on "more info" to view any additional elements, –such as audio, videos, articles and links–, that each author has shared with us.
The headphones 🎧 icon indicates that a podcast presentation is available.
Courtesy of our speakers to conference attendees (upon request and for 8 weeks following the completion of the meeting) and to active ESSTS members; please find below the PDFs of their presentations.
A special thank you to all those who shared their valuable work with the community!
Active (for the current calendar year) ESSTS members can access the files directly once logged in to their member account.
A record-breaking –57!– number of abstracts, were presented in Brussels, 30% of which were submitted from researchers outside Europe.
From Calgary to Melbourne...
Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, UK, USA.
Thank you all for your contribution and for keeping the collaborative spirit in top shape! 🚀
Although our previous –virtual– meeting only took place 9 months prior to the Lausanne conference, one thing is certain; researchers around the world have been working tirelessly, submitting large numbers of excellent abstracts. We accepted 38 abstracts back in October 2021 and 48 in June 2022.
Thank you all for your contribution and for keeping the collaborative spirit in top shape! 🚀
From Calgary to Melbourne...
Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, UK, USA
Whether you have already retrieved your copy of the book of abstracts at the conference venue, or you would like to explore the programme and submitted abstracts, you may download the original file below.
A new feature was introduced in Brussels; audio presentations of the conference posters recorded by the authors themselves and made available in a podcast format.
📸 A photo journey immortalising the Brussels "on stage and backstage" experience!
(We did our best to collect as many photos as possible. Feel free to get in touch, if you'd like to...contribute to the collection!)
click to view PDF version
As promised when we first introduced controversy discussions followed by live polling during the Hannover meeting in 2019, it was indeed only the beginning!
This year, 2 esteemed colleagues from the University of Calgary, Tamara Pringsheim and Davide Martino took the stage and debated on a genuinely controversial topic; are functional tics easy to diagnose?
As you can see from the results...no landslide victory for either debater, yet Tamara's smile says it all! 💪
Both speakers have made their presentations available online; scroll to view them on the following section.
view PDF version
Clinical psychologist and PhD student at Karolinska Institutet Per Andrén, has kindly made available to our attendees and now to all interested parties the slides of his presentation. Feel free to download!
This year, we introduced live polling for the ePoster and oral presentation awards, but also for our first (though certainly not last!) controversy, titled:
“Is it time to rename Tourette syndrome?”
See the final results on the following chart.
In Jeremy Stern’s immortal and spontaneous comment, "it was Brexit all over again”…😉
Of note, the discussion with the audience was lively and could easily have gone on for much longer. To be continued in Lausanne on this and other topics!
If you were unable to attend, or would simply like to ... 📺 binge-watch these great presentations again..
The majority of the session recordings are now available and will remain online for at least 3 months after the completion of the conference.
Welcome to the 13th European Conference on Tourette Syndrome & Tic Disorders!
Presentation of results of a randomized observer blind clinical trial to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of internet-delivered behavioural treatment for adults with tic disorders (ONLINE-TICS)
Therapist-Supported Online Remote Behavioural Intervention for Tics (ORBIT) in Children and Adolescents: A Single-Blind Randomised Controlled Trial
Development of a Self-help Digital Intervention for Young People with Tourette Syndrome
Applying an established Exposure Response Prevention protocol for Young People with Tourette’s syndrome in an intensive, group format: a UK feasibility study.
Compilation of FTB patients' clips diffused over social networks
Prepared by Natalia Szejko
ESSTS survey results "Evaluating frequency and clinical variability of functional tics and Tourette-like behaviours in Europe and all around the globe"
Presented by Natalia Szejko
Tamara Pringsheim & Davide Martino (CANADA)
- Rapid onset of functional tic like behaviours in adults during the COVID-19 pandemic
Seonaid Anderson (BELGIUM) (article)
- Tics on TV - Tourette syndrome and the media: lived experiences
- Functional Presentations in a Tic Disorder Clinic
Morvwen Duncan (UK)
- Mixed methods follow-up of children and young people following a diagnosis of functional tics: a prospective study
Tammy Hedderly (UK)
- Atypical tic-like presentations during the COVID19 pandemic
Nanette Mol Debes (DENMARK)
- Functional tics – experiences from Denmark
Peter Nagy (HUNGARY)
- Atypical Tic Cases
Theresa Paulus (GERMANY)
- Pandemic tic-like behaviours following social media consumption
Kirsten R. Müller-Vahl (GERMANY)
- Stop that! It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of masssociogenic illness
Results of the randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of nabiximols (Sativex®) in the treatment of adults with chronic tic disorders (CANNA-TICS)
A special thanks to Kevin for his phenomenal work and contribution!
Essing Jana (🏆 Best oral presentation)
- Premonitory urges reconsidered: urge location corresponds to tic location in patients with primary tic disorders
- The relationship between premonitory urges and tics, comorbidities, quality of life, and treatment
- Inter-individual differences in urge-tic associations in Tourette syndrome
- Detecting the functional anatomy of the urge-to-blink
- Somatosensory perception-action binding in Tourette syndrome
-Brain mechanisms of cognitive control in youth with Tourette syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: an EEG study
-Objective quantification of tic expression in Tourette syndrome patients
Szejko Natalia (🏆 Best ePoster)
- There is nothing Tourettic about the New York City subways” - representation of tics and Tourette syndrome in literature, cinema, and theatre
- Sex Differences in Tourette Syndrome
- Pain and Pain Management in Tics and Tourette Syndrome
- Tics and sleep: Qualitative insights from parents of children with Tourette syndrome
- An innovative person-centred research approach for Tourette’s
-Self-injurious behaviour in patients with chronic tic disorders – new insights and preliminary validation of the self-injurious behaviour scale (SIBS)
An introduction to behavioural therapy for therapists interested in treating patients with tic disorders. The workshop includes a brief introduction to tic disorders and a step-by-stepin struction to the currently recommended evidence-based behavioural treatments: habit reversal training (HRT) and exposure and response prevention (ERP). Presenters are Dr. Ewgeni Jakubovski from Hannover Medical School, Germany, and PhD candidate Per Andrén from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
- Opening message by the board
- Summary of the 2021 ESSTS guidelines for psychological interventions (Ewgeni Jakubovski & Per Andrén)
- Psychoeducation Ewgeni Jakubovski
- Habit reversal training (HRT) / Comprehensive behavioural intervention for tics (CBIT) Ewgeni Jakubovski
- Exposure and response prevention (ERP) Per Andrén
Due to the sensitive nature of the clinical material presented in this workshop, the recording of the session will not be made available online.
Do not hesitate to get directly in touch with the trainers to request more information.
(Alphabetical order)
Tara Murphy (UK), Charlotte Sanderson (UK), Zsanett Tárnok (Hungary), Jolande van de Griendt and Cara Verdellen (The Netherlands)
- Opening by the board & in memoriam of Kieron O’Connor
- Comorbidities/ complex cases:
• Introduction – Charlotte Sanderson
• ADHD – Zsanett Tárnok
• OCD – Jolande van de Griendt
• ASD – Charlotte Sanderson & Tara Murphy
- Functional Tics:
• Diagnostics – Cara Verdellen
• Group Work - Tara Murphy
• Treatment by hypnosis - Cara Verdellen
• Treatment by catalepsy - Jolande van de Griendt
Tics and Tourette Across the Globe (TTAG) is an umbrella association representing Tic and Tourette Syndrome advocacy groups across the globe, thus creating a united voice for those affected by this neurodevelopmental disorder.
Advocates, clinicians and scientists across the world collaborate to benefit those affected by Tourette Syndrome or tic disorders.
Get in touch with TTAG:
Email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, GoFundMe
A loud 📢 thank you to all the authors who shared with us their hard work and exceeded our conservative expectations of abstract submissions this virtual year!
You will find below a comprehensive list of the Conference ePosters (titles in alphabetical order).
Click on "more info" to view the supporting material (videos & articles) that some of the authors have provided.