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Facial tics are characterized by impulsive, apparently involuntary muscle contractions of entire muscle groups in the face and neck region. These contractions are regularly repetitive in nature, and appear to have no real purpose. Common tics are exaggerated eye blinking, squinting, nose wrinkling, facial grimacing or even vocalizations such as throat clearing or grunting. Tics often manifest themselves during childhood, and most of the time resolve as the child ages. This is not always the case, though, and many people continue to experience tics as they enter adulthood.

Tics often increase in frequency as an individual feels anxiety or discomfort. People who suffer from tics tell us that they are able to sense a tic as it approaches. It's often described as an overwhelming feeling of tension and the wish to engage the tic to eliminate the tension; somewhat akin to the approaching urge to yawn or sneeze which relieves the victim. Trying to control a tic can trigger anxiety, which can lead to the onset of another tic. Tics are often described as being uncontrolled but research and reports from sufferers indicates they are indeed voluntary motions that can be controlled by the sufferer.

A tic can manifest itself as a simple tic, as in mouth twitches, grunting or facial grimaces or can be more complex such as is often seen in Tourette syndrome. Simple tics are more common than complex tics, but they can be just as disturbing to the sufferer; while a facial tic does not cause physical pain to the sufferer, it often triggers mental distress or social problems.

Children, in particular, can have a hard time living with a tic due to mocking from other students, or teachers who don't fully recognize the thorny situation the child is in. While tics are often described as not being totally involuntary, control of a tic can be quite difficult to establish, especially for children. Children often do not establish the skills to identify a tic onset as well as an adult.

Adults can also face critical trouble in their lives when living with a facial tic. Social problems are commonly experienced, and even when tics are generally controlled the adult can become quite exhausted by the constant need to identify the onset of and control the tic impulse. Adults and children alike may suffer from self-worth or self-esteem issues due to their continuous suffering from a disease that often causes them to become social outcasts.

Relieving a person of the distress of a facial tic can change that person's life. Self-worth generally improves, and social anxiety is no longer an issue holding a person back from experiencing a full life. In children, relieving a tic may let the child develop with less stress while he/sh has a happier childhood.

Over the years, many treatments for tics have been applied with varying degrees of achievement. Counseling or psychotherapy can help reveal the emotional causes of a tic, and may help someone understand better how to fight the urge to do their tic. Sedatives and other forms of medication sometimes do well in cases of simple tics. These meds often come saddled with unwanted side effects, so many people want alternative treatments.

Self-hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) methods have been developed expressly for the purpose of overcoming facial tics. Since facial tics are not firmly unconscious in nature, these treatments aim to change the sufferer's unconscious response to the onset of a tic episode such as throat clearing or facial grimacing. In a large number of cases this can be accomplished by allowing the unconscious mind to avoid the tic's onset. In some extreme cases, however, the victim's response will be redirected to some innocuous portion of the body such as twitching a toe instead of facial muscles.

Facial tics can be an awkward life-affecting trouble. Children and adults alike can suffer greatly from the presence of a facial tic such as squinting, eye blinking, facial grimaces, mouth twitches, grunting or nose wrinkling. Eliminating a facial tic can prove very valuable to the sufferer on an emotional level.

Although many treatments have been developed to fight against facial tics, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Hypnotherapy aim to utilize natural unconscious methods of redirecting the tic response. This type of help has great benefit over other methods such as counseling, which may not treat the tic behavior at all, or attempt to modify the conscious reaction to tic behavior.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Hypnotherapy also do not experience the unwanted side effects of drugs. This beneficial method of treatment can also diminish stress and concern in the victim's life, thereby both reducing the impulse to form a tic and proving a benefit in everyday life. Due to these factors, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Hypnotherapy are often the safest, most preferred methods of treatment for tic sufferers.