Facial tics are brief, repetitive, sporadic spasms of the muscles of the face. They are very different, but the most usual ones are eye blinking, facial grimacing, nose wrinkling, mouth twitches, squinting as well as grunting and throat clearing. Such tics are often symptomatic of nervous disorders such as Tourette syndrome. They usually occur during childhood and can disappear within some weeks, even if some can last indefinitely.

The causes of facial tics are still not very well understood, but some things are thought to trigger or worsen the symptoms. Tics may be caused by some nutritional deficiencies such as a lack of magnesium, but they are also very often symptoms of other disorders such as Tourette syndrome, whose causes are thought to be neurological, and, to a certain degree, genetically inherited. Anxiety and stress have also been proven to trigger and notably aggravate the frequency of facial tics.

Facial tics can be hard to deal with everyday particularly for a child. Teachers, schoolmates and sometimes even parents, might not be able to understand how tough it is to try to hold back tics, particularly for a long time period such as for example a class. People will most often tell the child to "quit it", or might even mock him or her for having tics.

From facial grimaces to eye blinking, tics usually feel inappropriate and embarrassing for children and adults alike. It is also exhausting to have to try to control them perpetually. This obsession could make you excessively self-critical and you could consequently start to lose confidence in yourself or to develop some kind of social anxiety.

It is nonetheless possible to get rid of this embarrassment and to avoid people's uncomfortable looks. There are ways to significantly diminish, and sometimes completely cure, facial twitches, in order to regain your peace of mind and have a fully normal life. You might never have to worry again about facial grimaces or holding back any of these annoying twitches.

Facial tics are traditionally not treated or, in some acute cases or if the tics are shown to be caused by Tourette syndrome, patients might be given neuroleptics which are also used to treat disorders such as attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive behaviors. These drugs were not designed to cure facial tics in particular and might not be efficient all the time.

Furthermore, they are well known for their several negative side effects both on the short and long term. Insomnia, depression, sexual dysfunction, weight gain and anxiety are only some of the numerous negative side effects which can be caused by these drugs. Some of them can even worsen tics over time! But there are however other ways of dealing with facial tics that are entirely natural and free of negative side effects.

Methods that utilize (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and hypnosis have been designed especially for the purpose of treating facial tics. They can help you reduce them over time. To understand how such methods work it is important to remember that tics are not a totally physical condition and are not totally involuntary either. They are a response to an unconscious urge to perform the movement of the tic. This urge unpleasantly increases as you try to hold back from performing the movement. Those impulses also grow in both frequency and intensity when the patient is stressed or anxious or when placed in a particular situation.

Facial tics are a way to relieve pressure when you are feeling anxiety or are coping with stressful conditions. This unconscious association can be treated using hypnosis and NLP, because they make it possible to modify the kind of behavior your unconscious triggers when you are placed in certain situations. If acute, the therapist will get rid of the facial tic by suggesting the unconscious have you twitch your toe instead. When you move your toe it is not apparent or visible to people around you. Hypnosis also allows you to become a lot more relaxed overall, so it is a stress relieving experience. It will help you suppress both the anxiety and stress that make facial tics worse.

Facial tics come in a lot of different types: eye blinking, nose wrinkling, mouth twitches, squinting, grunting, facial grimacing or throat clearing. Even though tics have physiological causes, there are very strong psychological factors too. Anxiety and stress are without a doubt the most considerable of these factors. Tics have their roots in the unconscious mind as a response to states of stress or anxiety; using NLP and self-hypnosis you will be able to modify this association. Anxiety and stress can also be efficiently fought on the long term with the relaxing, stress relieving techniques of hypnotherapy, which will significantly reduce the occurrence of facial tics.

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