Facial tics are brief, repetitive, irregular spasms of the face's muscles. They can be very diverse, but the most commonly seen are eye blinking, facial grimacing, mouth twitches, nose wrinkling, squinting along with throat clearing and grunting. Such tics are usually symptomatic of nervous disorders such as Tourette syndrome. They traditionally happen during childhood and often disappear within some weeks, even though some may last indefinitely.

The causes of facial tics are still poorly understood, but a few things are thought to trigger or worsen the symptoms. Tics can result from some nutritional deficiencies such as a magnesium insufficiency, but they are also very often symptoms of other diseases such as Tourette syndrome, whose causes are thought to be neurological, and, to a certain extent, genetic. Anxiety and stress have also been shown to trigger and notably aggravate the frequency of facial tics.

Facial tics are tough to deal with everyday especially for a child. Schoolmates, teachers and sometimes even parents, might not be able to understand how hard it is to hold back the tics, especially for an extended time period such as for instance a class. People will most often ask the child to "quit it", or might even mock him or her because of the tics.

From facial grimaces to eye blinking, tics usually feel embarrassing and inappropriate for adults and children alike. It is also fatiguing when one must try to control them constantly. This obsession may make you excessively self-critical and you may in turn start to lose self-confidence or to develop some sort of social anxiety.

It is nonetheless possible to eliminate this uneasiness and to avoid people's uncomfortable looks. There are ways to considerably diminish, and sometimes completely cure, facial tics, in order to regain your peace of mind and have a fully normal life. You may never have to be concerned anymore about facial grimaces or handling any of these irritating twitches.

Facial tics are rarely treated or, in some acute cases or when the tics are related to Tourette syndrome, patients might be given antipsychotics which are also used to treat diseases such as attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Such drugs were not designed to treat facial tics specifically and might not be efficient all the time.

Moreover, they are known to have numerous undesirable side effects both in the short and long run. Depression, insomnia, weight gain, sexual dysfunction and anxiety are only some of the several undesirable side effects which are associated with these drugs. Some of them can even aggravate tics over time! But there are however other ways of dealing with facial tics which are entirely natural and free of undesirable side effects.

Methods which use hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) have been designed especially for the purpose of treating facial tics. They can help you reduce them over time. In order to understand why such methods work it is important to know that tics are not a totally physical disorder and are not totally involuntary either. They are a response to an unconscious urge to do the movement of the tic. This urge uncomfortably increases as you try to hold back from performing the movement. Such urges also grow in frequency and intensity alike if the patient feels stress or anxiety or if placed in certain situations.

Facial tics are a way to relieve pressure when you are feeling anxious or are coping with a stressful environment. Such an unconscious association can be cured using hypnosis and NLP, because they make it possible to modify the sort 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 move your toe instead. When the toe moves it is not visible or apparent to people around you. Hypnosis also makes you become much more relaxed overall, so it is an appeasing experience. It will help you suppress both the stress and anxiety which worsen facial tics.

Facial tics come in many different forms: eye blinking, nose wrinkling, squinting, mouth twitches, facial grimacing, grunting or throat clearing. Although tics have physical causes, there are very strong psychological factors too. Anxiety and stress are doubtlessly the most important 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 alter this association. Anxiety and stress can also be effectively fought on the long term with the stress relieving and relaxing techniques of hypnotherapy, which will significantly decrease the occurrence of facial tics.