Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition that involves repetitive thoughts and behaviors. If you have OCD, you might also experience tics or disruptive involuntary sounds or movements.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic mental health condition when you experience uncontrollable and recurring thoughts or go through repetitive behavior or both. OCD affects just over 2% of the adult population in the United States. OCD symptoms and behaviors can disrupt your everyday life and lead to severe stress.

If you are living with OCD, you might also experience a tic disorder involving motor or vocal tics. It could be Tourette syndrome or another coexisting tic disorder. These tics are involuntary movements or sounds that can be disruptive and stressful.

Understanding triggers and treatment strategies for OCD and tics can help reduce stress and improve your quality of life.

OCD does not directly cause tics. However, tic disorders such as Tourette syndrome commonly coexist in people with OCD. The overlapping symptoms of both OCD and tic disorders can be intertwined and lead to confusion in diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

The tics you experience along with OCD are typically complex tic-like behaviors and may seem to have a compulsive or anxious nature.

Also, people who present with OCD and tics usually have an earlier age of onset for both conditions. These are more common in males and have a greater tendency toward rubbing, touching, or tapping compulsions.

Tics and tic disorders are usually first seen in childhood, so OCD tics are mainly pediatric diagnoses. As the brain matures and develops, there is a possibility that tics could go away as the child ages.

The behaviors of OCD and tics are usually brought on by certain triggers. These triggers are often in response to a thing or situation that causes anxiety.

Common triggers of OCD tics

Anything can be a tic trigger for OCD, and specific triggers are often personal in nature. Some general common triggers are:

OCD tic vs. Tourette syndrome

OCD tics are not the same as Tourette syndrome, though if you are living with OCD tics, you may also have Tourette syndrome. When the two conditions overlap, it is sometimes called “Tourettic OCD”.

This is not yet classified as a specific disorder, but evidence is starting to point in that direction.

People with Tourettic OCD experience complex tic-like behaviors that are compulsive and partially anxious in nature.

OCD tics can vary, but some examples are:

  • blinking eyes
  • moving eyes in different ways
  • shrugging shoulder
  • jerking head and shoulder
  • grimacing the face
  • repeating a sound or phrase, sometimes inappropriate
  • clicking the fingers
  • coughing or grunting
  • jerking the head

If you have OCD with tics or OCD with Tourette syndrome, for both, the treatment includes therapies, medication, or a combination of both.

Behavioral therapies are usually the first type of treatment, followed by medication. Combination treatments might be helpful for you. Standard options include:

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): An accepted first-line treatment for OCD, CBT is a type of talk therapy focused on recognizing and changing unhealthy thought patterns.
  • Exposure-response prevention therapy: This therapy gradually exposes patients to situations that trigger OCD symptoms in a safe environment. The goal is to develop coping skills to prevent and resist compulsions.
  • Comprehensive behavioral intervention for tics (CBIT): Suggested as a first-line treatment for tic disorders, CBIT has three parts: awareness training, re-training of tic behaviors, and changes in daily activities to reduce tics.
  • Antipsychotic medications: Antipsychotic medications such as aripiprazole, risperidone, or benzamide sulpiride may help treat OCD with tics. These medications are usually prescribed if therapy alone is not effective. They have a high risk of side effects and are generally not a first-line therapy for OCD with tics.
  • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: These medications are sometimes helpful for people with OCD and tics and usually have fewer side effects than antipsychotics.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition when you experience being preoccupied with recurring thoughts and repetitive actions. It is not uncommon for tic disorders, such as Tourette syndrome, to coexist with OCD. Tic disorders can cause you to have involuntary physical movements or sounds that can be disruptive and stressful.

Different behavioral therapies, sometimes combined with medications, can be effective treatments in managing your OCD and tics. You can learn more about the different therapy options for OCD here.