Facial tics are characterized by abrupt, seemingly uncontrolled muscle contractions of entire muscle groups in the face. These contractions are regularly recurring in nature, and appear to have no actual reason. Common tics are exaggerated eye blinking, squinting, nose wrinkling, facial grimacing or even vocalizations such as grunting or throat clearing. Tics often show up during childhood, and most of the time resolve as the child ages. This is not always the situation, though, and many people continue to experience tics as they enter adulthood.

Tics often increase in rate of recurrence as a sufferer feels stress or discomfort. Victims who suffer from tics report they are often aware of a tic as it approaches. It's often described as an overwhelming feeling of tension and the desire to engage the tic to break the tension; somewhat akin to the approaching urge to yawn or sneeze which relieves the person. Controlling a tic can cause stress, which can lead to the onset of another tic. Tics are often described as being automatic but research and reports from victims indicates they are indeed voluntary motions that can be controlled by the victim.

A tic can manifest as a simple tic, as in facial grimaces, mouth twitches or grunting or it can be more complex such as is seen very often in Tourette syndrome. Simple tics are more commonly seen than complex tics, but they can be just as devastating to the sufferer; while a facial tic does not cause physical pain to the victim, it can often cause social problems or mental distress.

Children, in particular, can have a hard time living with a tic due to mocking from other children, or teachers that don't fully recognize the tricky situation the child is in. While tics are often described as not being totally involuntary, control of a tic can be quite difficult to establish, especially in children. Children often do not establish the skills to recognize a tic onset as well as an adult.

Adults can also face serious problems in their lives when living with a facial tic. Social problems are quite common, and even when tics are generally controlled the adult can become quite fatigued by the continual need to identify the onset of and control the tic impulse. Adults and children alike may suffer from self-worth or self-esteem issues due to their continuous suffering from a disease that often causes them to become social outcasts.

Relieving a victim of the anxiety of a facial tic can change that person's life. Self-esteem often improves, and social anxiety is no longer a force holding an individual back from experiencing a full life. In children, relieving a tic may permit the child to develop with less tension while he/sh has a happier childhood.

Over the years, many treatments for tics have been used with varying degrees of success. Psychotherapy or counseling can help reveal the emotional causes of a tic, and may help someone understand better how to thwart the urge to give in to their tic. Mild sedatives and other forms of medication are sometimes successful in cases of simple tics. These medications often come saddled with unwanted side effects, so many people look for alternative treatments.

Self-hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) methods have been developed expressly for the purpose of overcoming facial tics. Since facial tics are not firmly unconscious in nature, these treatments aim to change the sufferer's unconscious response to the onset of a tic episode such as facial grimacing or throat clearing. In most cases this can be done by allowing the unconscious mind to avert the tic's onset. In some extreme cases, however, the victim's response will be redirected to some innocuous portion of the body such as twitching a toe instead of facial muscles.

Facial tics can be an uncomfortable life-affecting woe. Children and adults alike can suffer greatly from the incidence of a facial tic such as grunting, nose wrinkling, facial grimaces, mouth twitches, squinting or eye blinking. Eliminating a facial tic can prove very helpful to the victim on an emotional level.

Although many treatments have been developed to combat facial tics, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Hypnotherapy aim to utilize natural unconscious methods of redirecting the tic response. This type of help has great benefit over other methods such as psychotherapy, which may not help the tic behavior at all, or attempt to change the conscious response to tic behavior.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Hypnotherapy also do not suffer from the unwanted side effects of drugs. This beneficial method of treatment can also diminish tension and worry in the victim's life, thereby both reducing the impulse to form a tic and proving an advantage in everyday life. Due to these factors, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Hypnotherapy are often the safest, most preferred methods of treatment for tic sufferers.

Alan B. Densky, CH offers facial twitch hypnosis CD's as well as a broad array of popular titles for all stress related symptoms. For pleasure and learning visit his Free hypnosis video library at his Neuro-VISION self hypnosis website.