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

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

Om Podcasten

Authentic conversations about Tourette Syndrome, produced by an insider who isn't interested in the ol' one-dimensional take on what it's like to have TS. On each episode, host Ben Brown talks with a fellow Touretter about his or her history, tics, social interactions and daily management of Tourette's -- whether by masking it, owning it, medicating it, or something altogether different. It's engaging, funny, heavy, real. Get ready to meet people who blow away the standard portrayal.