Intensive Outpatient Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics: A Clinical Replication Series

Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) is an efficacious behavioral treatment for Tourette’s disorder. In its standard format, CBIT is completed in 8 sessions over a 10-week period. Unfortunately, significant obstacles (e.g., not having a provider nearby; inability to attend weekly sessions) prevent many individuals from participating in standard outpatient CBIT. An intensive outpatient program that compresses CBIT into a week may help overcome many of these barriers. The present clinical replication series examines treatment outcomes in 5 individuals with Tourette’s disorder. Importantly, 4 out of the 5 participants reported clinically meaningful tic reductions on the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) at the posttreatment assessment, with an average decrease of 11.5 points across those 4 participants. This represents a 28% decrease in the average posttreatment YGTSS score from the average baseline YGTSS score. Of the 3 participants who completed the 1-month follow-up assessment, 2 participants continued to endorse reductions in their baseline tic severity on the YGTSS and were rated as having a positive response on the Clinician Global Impressions–Improvement subscale. Clinical implications are discussed.