S7 - Episode 4 - Is TikTok Giving People Tourette Syndrome? (Science Episode!)

06/05/21 • 64 min

Let's crack into a mystery. Scientists began to notice it as the pandemic revised our lives -- young people, almost all of them women, started showing up to the doctor in surprising numbers with what looked like Tourette Syndrome. Out of nowhere. No such prior symptoms. The common denominator? They'd all been watching Tourette content on the social media video-making-and-sharing app TikTok. Is the TS stuff on TikTok somehow bringing out some dormant, previously undocumented tic disorder in its viewers? Are they faking it? What's going on? We bring on a couple scientists -- Drs. Tamara Pringsheim and Davide Martino of the University of Calgary -- to investigate. And, yeah, it gets interesting.

Plus: Revisiting a question from a struggling parent. And Tourette Awareness Month continues.

Going Viral: Social Media May Be Increasing Cases of New-Onset Tics

Work from Drs. Tamara Pringsheim and Davide Martino

Tourette's Podcast is made possible by the Tourette Association of America, tourette.org. Support!

You can give Tourette’s Podcast individual support at https://www.patreon.com/tourettespodcast

Tourette's Podcast Discussion Group on Facebook

Plus: Revisiting a question from a struggling parent. And Tourette Awareness Month continues.

Going Viral: Social Media May Be Increasing Cases of New-Onset Tics

Work from Drs. Tamara Pringsheim and Davide Martino

Tourette's Podcast is made possible by the Tourette Association of America, tourette.org. Support!

You can give Tourette’s Podcast individual support at https://www.patreon.com/tourettespodcast

Tourette's Podcast Discussion Group on Facebook

Previous Episode

S7 - Episode 3 - Three Days Ago (with Jhonelle)

What better way to celebrate Tourette Awareness Month (May 15-June 15) than to open up about having the disorder? For the first time, ever, we mean (to whom it applies).

Just a few days before this episode's conversation took place, our guest, 26-year-old Jhonelle, spoke up for the first time publicly about her life with Tourette Syndrome. To classmates, everyone.

Which came with self-questioning. Would people treat her differently? Would they doubt her? Take her seriously?

Plus: A parent of a 13-year-old with TS is doubting her ability to help. And a few science facts that Touretters should know.

Jhonelle on Instagram

Dr. Christine Conelea (TS scientist) on Twitter

Tourette's Podcast is made possible by the Tourette Association of America, tourette.org. Support!

You can give Tourette’s Podcast individual support at https://www.patreon.com/tourettespodcast

Tourette's Podcast Discussion Group on Facebook

Next Episode

BONUS: The Real Life of Oliver Sacks

Bonus episode! If you're new to Tourette Syndrome, it's fair if you haven't heard the name Oliver Sacks before. But he's one of the most acclaimed figures in all of neuroscience -- arguably in all of medicine, and his humanization of disorders including Tourette had incalculable benefit. In May, Ben got to interview people closely involved with Sacks and the new documentary about his life, "Oliver Sacks: His Own Life." On this bonus episode we have film director Ric Burns; Oliver Sacks Foundation Executive Director and close friend to the late doctor Kate Edgar; photographer Lowell Handler, also a close longtime friend to Sacks; and Tourette Association of America President and CEO Amanda Talty. The panel discusses Sacks' contributions, but also the early difficulties he faced being taken seriously within his own profession, drug use, and his isolating experiences as a gay man. This talk was part of the Tourette Association of America's annual conference in May 2021.