Twitching in the face
The face is our personal figurehead in contact with other people. For this reason, facial twitching is perceived as particularly disturbing and can cause massive insecurity and restriction in the person concerned. As a reflection of our emotional state, stress and psychological problems can cause facial twitches.
Every person reacts differently to emotional stress and processes it in their own way. The psyche can therefore also be reflected in physical symptoms, such as facial twitches. The eyelid is particularly often affected in the case of the so-called “nervous twitching“.
As a rule, however, this is not a sign requiring treatment, but merely an accompanying symptom that disappears when the psychological problem is overcome. Besides emotional stress in the form of everyday and interpersonal problems, stress can also have physical effects. Sleep and mood deteriorate when stress continues, which has a negative effect on his ability to cope with the situation – a vicious circle is created.
Besides symptoms such as insomnia, indigestion or headaches, facial twitching is another sign of excessive stress.The patient’s body is in constant alert, the nervous system in a state of hyperexcitability. Facial twitching can be a symptom of a tic disorder in addition to the stress situations already described. This is a neurological-psychiatric clinical picture in which patients involuntarily make sudden movements (motor tics) or produce sounds (vocal tics) that serve no particular purpose.
Motor tics can be divided into simple (e.g., winking or frowning) and complex (e.g., jumping movements, body rotation) movements. The simple tics are most likely to affect the face. Blepharospasm (eyelid spasm), oromandibular dystonia, spasm hemifacialis and the special facial tic disorder must also be mentioned as differential diagnoses (other diagnoses) of facial twitching.
The tic disorders that occur in childhood occupy a special position. About every 4th child is affected by a temporary tic disorder during his development. In most cases, however, these disorders do not require treatment, as they disappear on their own after a short time – a few days to weeks. The cause is most likely to be found in the changes taking place during brain development.
