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Gerald Erenberg, MD
Tourette Syndrome Association 42-40 Bell Blvd Bayside, NY 11381

Stanley Fahn, MD
Classification Study Group of the Tourette Syndrome Association Bayside, NY

Arch Neurol. 1996;53(7):588.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The Tourette Syndrome Association (TSA) Classification Study Group, representing a large number of investigators and medical institutions, arrived at a consensus statement titled "Definitions and Classification of Tic Disorders" that was published in the ARCHIVES.¹

Since then the American Psychiatric Association has published the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV).² Their Task Force introduced several changes: (1) Tics are described as "rapid." (2) Tourette syndrome (TS) cannot be diagnosed if there is a remission of more than 3 months in the first 12 months.² (3) The disturbance causes marked distress or significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

We strongly prefer the TSA classification to that of DSM-IV for the following reasons:

1. The TSA classification depends on diagnosis by objective documentation of history,³ not "significant impairment or distress" as in criterion 3 of DSM-IV. For epidemiological, clinical, . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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