What is Tourette's Syndrome?

Tourette's is about more than blurting out obscenities

Despite its prevalence in society (an estimated 300,000 people live with the condition in the UK including 1 in every 100 children of school age) myths and misunderstanding about Tourette's Syndrome ("Tourette's") continue to abound. Like Autism and ADHD Tourette's is a neurological condition and a type of neurodivergence, which manifests in vocal and other tics. Perhaps the most enduring and damaging misconception is that Tourette's Syndrome is simply behavioural and that people with Tourette's can control their actions. . This is far from the case and misunderstandings such as this as well as stereotypes which suggest that it is all about shouting out random swear words, negatively impact those with the condition leading to difficulties in diagnosis and support.

Tourette's is a condition of the nervous system, which causes involuntary twitches, movements and/or sounds. Examples include blinking, eye-rolling, shrugging, twirling, grunting, whistling, saying random words/phrases and (although less commonly than is often imagined/represented in the media) swearing. Tics are not usually harmful but may increase in times of stress and anxiety and thus be reflective of distress. By wrongly conceiving of Tourette's as a behavioural condition, children and young people exhibiting symptoms, particularly in schools, are often viewed as being deliberately disruptive and attention-seeking.

Despite being previously labelled as a 'rare' condition, Tourette's is actually relatively common, with reserach suggesting a similar prevalence as Autism and those with the condition will rarely only have Tourette's. Far more common is for it to co-occur with other conditons such as ADHD and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ("OCD"), and it has been estiamted that this is so for 85% of people with Tourette’s.

Diagnosis, which is usually done by a specialist such as a neurologist, and in common with many other neurodivergent conditions, involves observation and evaluation of symptoms which be must multiple and present for at least a year.  Tourette's cannot be cured and mostly does not require treatment, but if symptoms are impacting quality of life then behavioural therapy (habit reversal training or exposure with response prevention) and medication are potentially available. You can find out more about Tourette's and how to support people with the condition, from the Tourette Action website.

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