Twitching, verbal outbursts, involuntary repetitive movements and sounds -- these are the symptoms of Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder that is three times more common in boys than in girls. However, medical experts have been seeing a rise in functional tic disorders in teen girls and they’re linking the increase to the popular social media site, Tik Tok.
“Eye blinking, maybe a sniffing or a throat clearing,” said Dr. David Isaacs, assistant professor of neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
These are some of the tics associated with Tourette syndrome.
Doctors at UCLA typically see one to two cases linked to social media a year. That number has swelled to 10 to 15 per month.
Johns Hopkins University’s Tourette’s Center numbers have also gone up from two to three percent of pediatric patients a year ago, to 10 to 20 percent. But Tik Tok may not be the sole cause.
“Many have comorbid diagnoses and things like PTSD or other kinds of perhaps remote trauma,” Isaacs said.
According to the CDC, five in six kids with chronic tics have another mental, behavioral or developmental disorder.
Experts say parents can seek out a specialist as well as encourage kids to do physical activities, such as sports and yoga that involve their mind and body working together. Also have your kids stay away from Tik Tok for several weeks. Early intervention can reduce or even eliminate the symptoms.
According to medical experts, the patients that doctors are seeing now have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression that was exacerbated by the pandemic, causing some patients to mimic the physical symptoms of psychological stress they have seen in others, such as their tics.