Why does tourettes make you swear?

Tourette Syndrome, a neurological disorder that affects 1 in every 162 children between the ages of 5 and 17 in America, is often associated with involuntary tics such as eye blinking or throat clearing. However, it is not uncommon for individuals with Tourettes to involuntarily swear or use obscene language. This symptom has captured the attention of popular culture but understandably also caused confusion among those who misunderstand the condition. In this article, we explore why Tourettes makes you swear.

The Basics: What Exactly is Tourette Syndrome?

First things first – let’s get down to brass tactics and familiarize ourselves on what exactly Tourette Syndrome entails.

Tourette Syndrome (TS) is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics that persist for at least one year. Symptoms typically appear during childhood but can continue into adulthood.

Complicated as fuck right? Time to break it down further because if you’re like me sometimes people telling me big words just make me confused!

Essentially TS results from ‘dysfunction’ within an area of your brain called basal ganglia, which oversees muscle control movement and filter out bothersome sensory information so y’all don’t do something too risky!

BASAL GANGRIA MORE LIKE BRAIN GONE WILDIA AMIRITE????!

Oh No … Ticks

You may be wondering,”what does
having ticks even mean?” Well lookey here I’m about to tell ya:

Ticks are sudden repetitive movements or sounds that happens unconsciously; they tend to come up at any time without warning(like Twitter beefs). Theyare comprisedof two types:
– Motor Ticks
– Vocal/Phonic Ticks

So MOVEMENT vs SOUND (to keep it simple)

People with TS have both-typicallyminor ones. They might blink excessively with their eyes or have little twitches here and there (motor tics) or may often cough unnecessarily, grunt loudly (vocal/ phonic tics).

Okay so that’s the low down on Tourettes but now back to what you really want to know:

Why Do ‘I’ Swear When I Have Tourette Syndrome?

Here’s the million-dollar question. Many people who don’t understand TS believe that affected individuals are constantly shouting obscenities. Unfortunately, they do not realize that this symptom known as Coprolalia which is present in only a small number of patients.

Coprolalia comes from two Greek words: “Kopro” meaning excrement, feces(basically shtty stuff)and“laliá,”meaning speech; therefore, coprolalia refers to obscene language without any justification.

Though it remains unclear why EXACTLY swearing is often associated with TS – neuroscience has shown us some potential reasoning behind it! One theory suggests that since swear words are stored within our other ‘habitual’ vocab areas in memory-we don’t need to access mental processes mainly responsible for everyday language processing when these bad boys pop up randomly-Like accidentally screaming ,”F@&%$!”when your tea kettle goes off too loud at 6 am…

An important note though: Not all those affected by this neurological condition display coprolalic ticks, saving them the possibility of deeply offending random strangers!

Is It Just Coprolalia Though?

Copro-what-now again? Oh right – basically swearing…just wanted
to remind ya at least once more so we’re clear.
But wait wait, did y’all think just because big ole profanity was fun enough for one tick outburst sesh means TS was just done showing off wit its pimpin disorderly self??

NUH-UHH HONEY let me introduce you to:

Echolalia

Well well well, if it isn’t the other quirky cousin of our TS family- often confused for Tourettes but doesn’t necessarily ‘qualify’ as one.

Echolalia refers to imitating what others say unconsciously – more like repeating words/phrases instead of swearing.

Like a child who parrots exactly what their favorite star said in such an endearing way…”I wanna be me when I grow up …”(implying they’ll only copy without putting 100% thought into creative insights).

Echophenomena’s believes that this is caused by mirror neurons systems in the brain activated wrongfully indicating that at some level TS may represent a misfiring between different regions and networks within your brain hence sounds rather than movements being copied which obviously means…

YOU’RE NOT CRAZY! YOUR BRAIN IS JUST DOING ITS STUNTS AS PER USUAL!

Ticcus Contrarius

And lastly BUT not least important we gotta show love
to those tick(s) camouflaged with opposite action (yesjustlikeTikTokthey exist too).
This type goes by the name-Ticcus contrarius: causing movements contrary to whatever was intended!
Likewhenyou are wantingto grab something placed gentlybut somewhere inside yaruinthe musclesandendup missingtotes:

“Na na AHAH missed again!”(insert random expletive) = This inconvenience brought to you courtesy of your BASAL GANGRIA!(gawd sometimes even basals don’t give af)

Conclusion

While understanding any condition is vital, it’s equally important not to belittle someone because they have something that sets them apart from everyone. Individuals with Tourettes Syndromes deserve acceptance beyond mocking them. Talking about mental health challenges like today will hopefully make employers aware; school personnel become educated on early signs and symptoms – leading to early diagnosis and better treatment options.

Despite Tourettes being a condition with several stigmas attached, research has come a long way in de-escalating them! With amazing neuro imaginaries along with non-pharmaceutical approaches like cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions or deep brain stimulation are just some of the groundbreaking solutions that will guarantee you live your best life- irrespective of those little quirks from time to time!

So let’s end this on a high note: we laughed, but most importantly got enlightened. Yes, at times uncontrollable expletives may erupt involuntarily amongst people living with TS – it is essential though not to feel ashamed because it’s something they have no control over! Let’s try instead to create an empathetic world where everyone loves their quirkiness regardless of how ‘strange’ others perceive it!

Thanks for reading,yo funky swanky humans! 😉

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