Sudden tics – they occur after teenagers see videos on social media staging symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome. What is it about the phenomenon?
Aidan’s tics broke out in early 2021, about a month after lockdown ended: Coming home from school, the 16-year-old teen would convulse – his head snapping, arms swinging wildly, and sometimes he would blow a high-pitched whistle and “Whoops” noises off. Aidan’s parents were very worried. “It happened before our eyes,” recalls Aidan’s mother, Rhonda. “It looked like Aidan was going insane.” She took Aidan to the emergency room, but the doctors found nothing.
Cases like that of Aidan, reported in the New York Times, have become increasingly common since the pandemic. Doctors treat thousands of young people worldwide for sudden tics. Many of those affected had shared popular TikTok or YouTube videos from teenagers such as Dillan White or Jan Zimmermann who have been diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome. Since then, the TikTok ticks have made the headlines again and again. scientist describe as a “pandemic within the pandemic”. Is the situation really as dramatic as it sounds?
TikTok-Ticks vs. Tourette-Syndrom
Unlike White or Zimmermann, the TikTok ticks aren’t about that Tourette Syndrome, but a functional or tic-like disorder. “At first glance, it is not easy to differentiate between the two symptom complexes,” explains Dr. Ahmed El-Kordi, psychological psychotherapist and child and adolescent psychotherapist, at the request of DocCheck News. “Therefore, an assignment should only be made by experts.” Tourette’s disorder is a neuro-psychiatric disease. According to the psychotherapist, it usually appears at a young age and more often in boys; on the other hand, the majority of young women are affected by a functional disorder.
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The development of the tics usually shows itself in simple throat clearing, whistling, grimacing, blinking or shoulder shrugs as well as complex or multiple hissing and grunting sounds, jumping, clapping or scratching, according to El-Kordi. The tics, in the sense of a functional neurological disorder, usually appear abruptly “from one day to the next”, whereas Tourette’s onset is gradual. Tourette syndrome has rostrocaudal development with simple motor tics on the head, neck, face, and spread to other parts of the body. “Coprolalia and copropraxia are special forms and do occur, but not to the degree that some YouTube videos portray it,” the psychologist continues.
In the Tick Disorder you hardly see any fluctuation over time, which is the case with Tourette, explains El-Kordi. The tic disorder is also context-dependent – psychological comorbidities such as anxiety disorders and Depression before; in Tourette’s syndrome ADHD and obsessive compulsive disorder. In addition, the development of the tics is related to the situation of those affected and is fueled by it, such as isolation caused by the pandemic, home schooling and family stressors, according to the psychologist. “Important, specific trigger is seeing tic-like behaviors on social media.”
Hysteria is nothing new
“This phenomenon is not new,” notes El-Kordi. “Charcot and Freud already dealt with this phenomenon, which used to be called ‘hysteria’ or ‘conversion disorder’ designated was dealt with.” A similar, locally limited one The phenomenon already existed in 2011: In Le Roy, a small American town west of New York, a cheerleader in the local high school broke out in a seizure. A few weeks later, her best friend suffered from similar symptoms — uncontrolled stuttering, facial muscle twitching, and head movement. The tics spread quickly through the school, affecting 18 girls, one boy and one adult woman. Media speculated about contamination with possible toxins or viruses. But the neurologists who treated the patients knew that many of those affected had experienced trauma or serious illness within families.
Although such phenomena have occurred frequently throughout history, perhaps confined to certain locations, social media have at least dissolved these geographic boundaries. The interesting and unusual thing about it is that the media contagion or the proven connection between the viewing of corresponding videos on social media and the occurrence of such complaints, says El-Kordi. “This led to Designation ‚Mass Social Media-Induced Illness‘.“
In practice
The psychotherapist had three cases of people with tics in his practice. For example, one of the patients had a known history of obsessive-compulsive disorder – this was reinforced by the YouTube videos. “In the case of the obsessive-compulsive disorder, we had a very good course – also due to a massive reduction or even to the point of abandoning the corresponding YouTube channels.” In this context, he points out that false information and allegations about some social media channels are distributed.
In the other two cases, he encountered incomprehension and disappointment when he communicated the suspected diagnosis. The symptoms in one case were so unusual – extension of the upper body with stretching of the right arm upwards and jerky movement of the head backwards – that he was able to quickly rule out a tic disorder in the narrower sense. “The statement that the patient had also looked at ‘similar cases online and via Insta’ and ‘everyone says it’s Tourette’ supplemented my suspected diagnosis.”
He also pointed out to both patients that he considered other psychopathological conditions – such as depressive mood, severe sleep disorder and social anxiety – to require intervention, but this was not accepted on the patient side. Many sufferers feel that they are not being taken seriously and that terms such as tic-like disorder give them the impression that they are being accused of inventing or simulating symptoms, says El-Kordi. But that is not the case. “Those affected are indeed in great distress and need professional intervention – but they do not suffer from Tourette’s syndrome.”
Down with social media?
El-Kordi takes a very critical view of the proliferation of channels spreading misinformation on mental health issues. “Regardless of the symptoms shown, I often experience that social media provides simple answers to complex emotional states.” He means not only the diagnoses made, but also subclinical forms that cannot be assigned to any diagnosis. “We have a paradoxical situation: on the one hand, understanding and acceptance of mental disorders have increased, while at the same time there is a lack of understanding of human needs.” Individual, understandable needs and requirements would only be accepted by the majority if there was a diagnosis as a headline, says El -Cordi. “Only when there is a diagnosis is the subjective suffering – more or less – taken seriously.”
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According to El-Kordi, specific social media channels about mental health provide an accepted solution via influencers: I know what you feel too! And: It has a name. This is a dangerous development, because for some, not accepting a diagnosis is not taking their needs seriously, the psychotherapist notes. This could also lead to fads and pseudo-diagnoses. “Human and understandable emotional states are pathologized.” However, he emphasizes that social media also have their advantages: destigmatization and normalization of mental illnesses. This is important because the TikTok ticks described are an established category of disorder and not a fad. The situation is complex, but manageable. Because, as El-Kordi’s practical examples show, these TikTok ticks can be treated.
Image source: Fatma Sarigul, Unsplash