Tics can be described as abnormal movements characterized by suddenness, inopportune occurrence, nonproductivity, and variability. They can affect the muscles of the face, neck, or shoulders, and are sometimes generalized. We distinguish between simple tics, which are often transient, multiple tics, and the chronic tics found in Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome.

In Studies on Hysteria (1895), Sigmund Freud posited that tics are a compromise between an idea and its counter-idea (countercathexis) and constitute a particular mode of expression of neurotic conflicts. In the view of Sándor Ferenczi, subjects with tics, owing to the very fact of their strong narcissism or a fixation at this stage, have an increased tendency toward discharge and a reduced capacity for psychic binding. A traumatic memory that affects the body-ego spontaneously comes to the fore each time it has the opportunity to do so: Tics are thus the...