Aripiprazole is effective in the treatment of Tourette's disorder

Tourette's disorder is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder including multiple involuntary motor and vocal tics. We report the clinical case of a 23-yr-old girl with Tourette's disorder and a successful treatment of this condition with aripiprazole, a new antipsychotic drug with dopamine-2 (D2) receptor antagonism under hyperdopaminergic conditions and with D2 receptor agonism under hypodopaminergic conditions. After 3 wk treatment with 15 mg/d aripiprazole, both motor and vocal tics had almost completely disappeared. The treatment was well tolerated by the patient. The only reported side-effect was insomnia during the first 3 wk of treatment. This encouraging case report should justify long-term placebo-controlled trials to further establish the treatment of tics with aripiprazole in this life-long disorder with severe functional consequences.