Complex motor tics consist of stereotyped movements that may resemble voluntary movements, e. g., handshaking, scratching, kicking, touching, or mimicking another person’s movements (echopraxia). Complex vocal tics may involve obscene language (coprolalia) or the repetition of another person’s words or sentences (echolalia).
Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (often abbreviated to Tourette syndrome) is a chronic disease in which multiple motor and vocal tics begin in adolescence and progress over time. Other features of the disease are personality disturbances, obsessive-compulsive phenomena, and an attention deficit.