Psychogenic Cough Tic in Children and Adolescents

Childhood habit cough treated with self-hypnosis

“…Other studies also reported lack of body tics, vocal grunting, snorting, or hawking for patients with habit cough. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][16][17][18][19] Although Tourette syndrome or motor tics in association with coughing have been reported in rare instances, 20,21 insufficient data are available to establish an incidence rate for this association. Clinicians should be careful when diagnosing tics associated with coughing, given the possible serious side effects of pharmacologic treatment for Tourette disorder, including the risk of neuroleptic malignant syndrome and tardive dyskinesia.…”

“…1,4,5,[16][17][18] Kravitz et al 16 reported use of tranquilizers as well as psychotherapy in the successful treatment of 9 patients with habit cough. Cohlan et al 1,17 reported immediate cough resolution in 84 of 90 patients with a technique involving wrapping a bedsheet tightly around the patient's chest.…”

Psychogenic Cough in Children: A Literature Review

“…It is less often thought of as a learned behavior that is maintained by environmental consequences (Munford & Liberman, 1978). Kravitz et al (1969) reported that in most of the cases they reviewed, diagnosis was delayed several weeks to several months because physicians were not aware of the psychogenic cough syndrome.…”

“…The success of suggestion therapy depends on the physician's ability to convince the patient and the patient's family that the cough is nothing more than a habit and that it is within their control and ability to terminate it. Downloaded by [University of Saskatchewan Library] at 00:34 20 November 2014 Kravitz et al (1969) reported nine brief case descriptions of psychogenic cough in which suggestion therapy was the primary treatment. The physicians' treatment included a discussion with the patient about the cough's relation to any emotional problems, anxiety, or school problems.…”

Psychosomatic Medicine and Otorhinolarγngology

“…The children did not have an allergic disposition. These results were achieved by a meta-analysis of 53 cases described in the literature [10][11][12][13][14][15] and by the observation of 4 of their own patients.…”