Childhood trauma of any kind can have long-term effects, including emotional effects. Emotional trauma, or the distress caused by witnessing or experiencing horrific events, neglect, or abuse, can lead to mental health conditions like PTSD. PTSD has a wide range of symptoms—including mental, emotional, and physical—that can make it hard for children to process their trauma and move forward. A few studies have even explored a relationship between PTSD and tics similar to those seen in Tourette syndrome.

Without help, it can be hard for your teen to process their trauma so they can start healing. Teen PTSD treatment can help them explore their mental health in a safe space while learning how to process it and develop coping skills that let them overcome challenges in the future.

How Childhood Trauma Affects the Brain

Childhood and complex trauma are especially damaging to people because the events occur during critical periods of brain development. Complex trauma—which can cause complex PTSD (CPTSD)—typically happens when a child’s caregiver takes advantage of the power dynamic and closeness of the relationship. It can include physical, emotional, and educational neglect.

Trauma doesn’t just impact how someone feels or how they respond to certain situations. It can physically change or disrupt the development of structures and regions in the brain, like:

• Brain circuits
• Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis
• Brainstem
• Midbrain
• Limbic system
• Cortex

These are important areas of the brain that control or influence everything from language, survival, and stress management to sleep, sensory-motor activity, appetite, and emotional regulation.¹ Since trauma is such a unique experience and can have so many complex effects, every person’s brain will respond differently to it.

Can Emotional Trauma During Childhood Cause Tics?

Some studies have started to explore the relationship between childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and tics. A tic is a sudden, involuntary movement that’s usually repetitive—like facial expressions, blinking or eye movement, throat clearing, grunting, jumping, twisting, or repeating a word or phrase. You might know the word “tic” in relationship to Tourette syndrome, but there are other tic disorders.

Tics are caused by neurological conditions. Since trauma is such a complex condition that does affect the brain, it’s not certain that trauma can’t cause tics. One recent study discusses an adolescent girl who developed tics after surviving sexual abuse from a parent during childhood.² Another explores the severity of tics among adult men with Tourette syndrome who had ACEs.³ With more research, experts will likely be able to draw better conclusions about whether or not trauma-related conditions like PTSD cause tics.

What If My Child Has PTSD?

If your child has PTSD or another trauma-related condition, help is available. While you probably provide support, you might not be able to give them the assistance they need, and that’s okay. It takes time to process trauma and learn how to cope with the long-term effects. Professional treatment can help your teen take steps in the right direction. It may include things like:

• Trauma-informed therapies to help your teen process their emotions without re-traumatizing them.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, which uses natural eye movement and talk therapy to help them work through difficult memories.
• Somatic and other body-centric approaches to help release energy in the body.
• Psychiatric medications—closely monitored and delivered alongside therapy—to help stabilize mood and manage other severe symptoms.

When your teen needs help, don’t wait. Reach out for professional support so they can begin healing.

Teen Trauma Treatment at Family First

Family First Adolescent Services provides personalized, leading-edge trauma treatment for teens 13–18 in South Florida. Plus, while your teen is in treatment, we’ll work closely with you and your family to help everyone learn more about trauma, its effects, and how to support your teen.

Reach out online or call 888.904.5947 today.

Footnotes:

1. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment – The impact and long-term effects of childhood trauma
2. Cureus – Tics of Trauma: Unique Case of Trauma-Associated Psychogenic Tics in an Adolescent Patient
3. Journal of Psychiatric Research – Relationship between adverse childhood experiences and symptom severity in adult men with Tourette Syndrome