Cheryl Richards edited Family_and_society.md  about 8 years ago

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Two studies examined the association between parenting a TS child and parental stress. Using self-report data, \citet{Stewart_2015_stress} revealed that stress in parents of 74 children with Tourette syndrome was highly correlated with current ADHD symptom burden in the child (\(r=.57\)) and, less strongly, with the child's OCD symptoms (\(r=.40\)). However, they also found, perhaps surprising some readers, that parental stress was not significantly correlated with current tic severity (\(r=.18, p=.13\)). The correlation of parental stress with ADHD and OCD symptom severity was present to a similar degree in 48 control children without tics. These observations reinforce the need for optimal clinical management of TS to include appropriate treatment of the associated comorbidities. In another study 28 parents of 21 TS children completed questionnaires on their anxiety, depression, and perceived stress \citep{26804511}. Eight of the parents reported a moderate or severe level of anxiety. In general, parents varied in terms of their self-reports of their coping skills and social support availability. The results of this study are a reminder that it is important to evaluate whether families of TS children have sufficient social support and whether increasing parental coping skills might improve the quality of life in TS families.  Attitudes toward treatment were investigated by  \citet{Cuenca_2015} surveyed using a survey of  295 parents of children and TS  youth with TS andperformed "in-depth  interviews with 42 young people with TS" TS. These subjects were  identified through [Tourettes Action](http://www.tourettes-action.org.uk/), Action](http://www.tourettes-action.org.uk/) which is  a non-profit organization in the U.K. Patients tended to view aripiprazole more positively than other treatments. Three quarters of parents wanted access to behavior therapy for their child, but reported substantial trouble finding it. On the other hand, many young people were skeptical that it this type of treatment  would help. Importantly, patients identified several treatment outcomes other than tics _per se_ as important to them: reduction of premonitory urges, increasing control over tics, and reducing anxiety.