Habit Disorders: Overview

Habit disorders are now classified under the broader term Stereotypic Movement Disorder. 

• Stereotypic Movement Disorder

          A motor disorder characterized by repetitive, stereotypic, nonfunctional motor behaviors that interfere with normal activities and can
          result in bodily injury. Common movements include: head banging, rocking, skin-picking and self-biting, and trichotillomania (some of
          these are also individual DSM diagnoses). 

          Differential diagnoses include: autism spectrum disorder, OCD, tic disorders, and dyskinesias.

• OCD and related disorders​

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Assessment & Screening

• NIMH Trichotillomania Impairment Scale (TIS) (clinician-rated)
• NIMH Trichotillomania Symptom Severity Scale (TSS) (clinician-rated)

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Position Papers

• AACAP's Practice Parameter for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (includes section on Tic Disorders)​

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Articles

• Recognition and Management of Tourette's Syndrome and Tic Disorders (AAFP, 1999)
• Behavioral Therapy for Treatment of Stereotypic Movements in Nonautistic Children (Miller, Singer, Bridges, Waranch, 2006)
• Stereotypic Movement Disorder: Easily Missed (Freeman, Soltanifar, Baer, 2010)
• Pediatric Trichotillomania (Harrison and Franklin, 2012)
• Trichotillomania, skin picking disorder and stereotypic movement disorder: Toward DSM V (Stein, et al, 2010)
• Behavior Therapy for Children with Tourette Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial (Piacentini, Woods, Scahill, et al, 2010)
• Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention (CBIT) for Tics (CDC)

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Resources

• (Powerpoint) Behavioral Therapy: Habit Reversal (John Piacentini, PhD)
• How to differentiate tic d/o's

Quick links

• Chronic motor or vocal tic
• Developmental coordination disorder
• Provisional tic disorder (formerly transient tic disorder)
• Tourette Syndrome

Organizations:

• Tourette's Syndrome Association

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