Tic Test for Adults: Do I Have Tics?
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Often
- Very often
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Often
- Very often
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Often
- Very often
Tic Test for Adults: Do I Have Tics? - Description and methodology of the test
A blink that will not settle, a throat that keeps clearing, a shoulder that jerks in the middle of a call: tics in adulthood are far more common than most people expect. Many people start by searching for a Tourette test for adults, when what they really want is a clear picture of their own movements and sounds. This tic test gives you that picture in a few minutes.
What the test measures
Your headline result is a tic level from 0 to 100, built from four parts. The first covers motor tics: hard blinking, grimaces, jerks of the head, neck or shoulders and longer sequences such as tapping in a set order. The second looks at sounds, from throat clearing and sniffing to grunts, hums and words that slip out. These are vocal tics, and many adults have them for years without naming them. The third part measures what comes before a tic: an itch, pressure or not-quite-right feeling that eases once the movement is done. The fourth shows the impact: the effort of holding tics back, how stress and tiredness turn them up and whether others notice. Researchers such as James Leckman describe tics in the same terms: number, frequency, strength and interference.
How it works and how to read your result
There are 25 short statements about the last month, and most people finish in about five minutes. For each one you choose how often it happened, from Never to Very often. One statement describes a calm moment, so read each line before you answer. The questions about the inner signal reflect the work of Douglas Woods and colleagues, who described how a premonitory urge builds before a tic and how relief follows it. Your result includes:
- your tic level from 0 to 100, labelled few, noticeable or frequent;
- the four parts ranked, from the strongest to the quietest;
- how strong your urge is and what it says about your tics;
- a comparison with other people who took the test.
Many adults are surprised by which part leads. Some score highest on sounds they had stopped hearing themselves. Others find that the effort of holding tics back costs more than the tics do, and that is often the best place to start.
- Leckman, J. F., Riddle, M. A., Hardin, M. T., Ort, S. I., Swartz, K. L., Stevenson, J., & Cohen, D. J. (1989). The Yale Global Tic Severity Scale: Initial testing of a clinician-rated scale of tic severity. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28(4), 566-573.
- Leckman, J. F., Walker, D. E., & Cohen, D. J. (1993). Premonitory urges in Tourette's syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150(1), 98-102.
- Woods, D. W., Piacentini, J., Himle, M. B., & Chang, S. (2005). Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS): Initial psychometric results and examination of the premonitory urge phenomenon in youths with tic disorders. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 26(6), 397-403.
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