A Sociogenic Epidemic

Tourette’s Syndrome is a neurological tic disorder characterized by unwanted involuntary motor movements and/or repetitive speech patterns. The rise of Tik Tok over the pandemic saw numerous subgroups of individuals and advocates group together to form various niche communities on the social networking app. One such disability advocacy community being the Tourette’s Community, fighting stigma and connecting with other ‘Tic Tokers’ on the app. Many advocates raise awareness for their neurological condition by being vulnerable and sharing stories of a day in their life with tics, educating others on the disorder, humanizing those with the condition, and creating a support system for those impacted by the disorder. One such Tik Tok Tourette’s Star being Evie Meg, who has a book coming out about her syndrome called My Nonidentical Twin on October 28th.

However, some worry that the rise of Tourette’s Tik Tok has contributed to the increased diagnoses of teen girls with Tourette’s syndrome. There has been a recent increase in patients reporting to doctors with tics over the pandemic, particularly in teen girls, many of whom suffered from other mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression, and found themselves on the mental health community of tik tok, eventually being exposed to the Tourette’s TikTok community as well. Most Tourette’s patients first present symptoms of a tic disorder between the ages of 5 and 10, but these teen girls have no previous history of tics, and are showing symptoms consistent with the videos and particular tics they see on TikTok, such as shouting “beans” at inappropriate times without any specific stimuli or context. These behavioral changes are indicative of a sociogenic illness, which is “spread” through social media. This does not mean that these teen girls are faking the illness in any way, however there is a distinction between Tourette’s Syndrome and this sort of functional Tourette’s-like mass sociogenic illness. This functional neurological disorder appearing among teen girls should not be taken as less serious then classic Tourette’s syndrome, but is a distinct disorder in its own right.

Dr. Caroline Olvera, a neurologist and movement disorders fellow at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, is continuing to study the rise of this sociogenic disorder among teen girls and states that “Historically, and currently, I believe that women’s medical complaints are sometimes minimized compared to men. For example, the term ‘mass sociogenic/psychogenic illness’ was previously called ‘mass hysteria,’ referring to the uterus, and thus the underlying assumption may be that this is a phenomenon only affecting women who have gone ‘crazy’ or ‘hysterical.’” Dr. Olvera emphasizes the importance of taking this condition seriously, and relates it to how medical conditions more prevalent in women have historically been downplayed or demonized.
This gender disparity in how we view and treat various medical and neurological conditions in society prevents young women from being able to be taken seriously and get the help that they need. Sociogenic illnesses need to be taken seriously and further studied no matter the demographic.