I don't have experience with this sort of thing specifically, but I wonder if it's similar: I think because of the stress of my previous job I picked up a series of phrases I would say...
I don't have experience with this sort of thing specifically, but I wonder if it's similar: I think because of the stress of my previous job I picked up a series of phrases I would say compulsively under my breath at random, even surprising, intervals. Nobody ever heard them, but they were there. I managed to redirect the obscene ones, and have dropped most of them by simply not correcting the behavior. Acknowledgement of the event reinforces it in this situation. Reading the article reminded me of these not quite "tics."
If I can develop my own psychologically-induced tics at 25-29, then certainly more impressionable youths can passively absorb somebody else's tics simply by watching them. My first take hearing about this phenomenon months ago was that there were people pretending to have Tourette's and then accidentally defaulting to these behaviors. In a way the reality is worse, it's almost a psychological contagion, like the case of the cheerleaders.
This isn't to blame the influencers, or even the people who accidentally adopt these behaviors. It's people innocently raising awareness for their disorder, and young content consumers somehow accidentally adopting these behaviors. It also seems to provide an interesting research opportunity on the effects of social media in young minds, and deeper explanation of some weirder parts of psychology.
I hesitate to say much on this because it's a sensitive subject, but I do think you might be right on the cause here. We live in a stressful, hellish society. We look around us and see wars, hate,...
I hesitate to say much on this because it's a sensitive subject, but I do think you might be right on the cause here.
We live in a stressful, hellish society. We look around us and see wars, hate, violence, and so much worse, our most cherished downtime leisure plagued by knowledge that so much of it is enabled by slavery half a world away, and we're expected to still go to work/school/whatever in the morning and act like nothing's wrong. And we work more than basically any group before the last couple centuries- roundabout the industrial revolution, where work hours on average soared- despite supposed advances allowing more productivity.
We produce an infinity of waste, hate, destruction, and chaos, and that causes an unbelievable amount of strain on our minds. Once we find something our brain... 'likes' as an outlet, we'll latch onto it in desperation. If that means shouting profanity... Well, maybe that's it. And then, as that only causes even more stress from losing status because it is, subconsciously, only a terrible, maladaptive coping mechanism, we latch onto it all the harder- again, not consciously, but as a desperate measure by some deeper part of ourselves.
We also then latch onto the community that gave our brain that coping mechanism because our modern world reinforces isolation and loneliness. We don't want to lose that cool person we were following- we want to stay in our community, the only community we have... Which is made more and moreso into the only community that accepts us as we shout profanity because of a stress-induced reaction to a world that is too abysmal to handle.
I don't know if this is how it works- though it is hinted at as a possibility a time or two in the article above- but it'd certainly make sense to me, at least.
This is going to be one of those articles that the future looks back on with an air of disbelief and absurdity at how strange and crazed the old world was, in the same way we look back at the...
This is going to be one of those articles that the future looks back on with an air of disbelief and absurdity at how strange and crazed the old world was, in the same way we look back at the strange old hypertrends of the Victorian era.
Alternatively, a future reader might be disappointed to see another case of medical professionals looking at a phenomenon that they don't understand and doesn't fit into their previous...
Alternatively, a future reader might be disappointed to see another case of medical professionals looking at a phenomenon that they don't understand and doesn't fit into their previous understanding and labeling it as female hysteria with a nicer modern coat of paint.
Three years ago, the psychiatrist Kirsten Müller-Vahl began to notice something unusual about the newest patients at her clinic in Hannover, Germany. A typical Tourette’s patient is a boy who develops slow, mild motor tics—blinking or grimacing—at about age 5 to 7, followed later by simple vocalizations such as coughing. Only about one in 10 patients progress to the disorder’s most famous symptom—coprolalia, which involves shouting obscene or socially unacceptable words. Even then, most patients utter only half a dozen swear words, on repeat.
But these new patients were different. They were older, for a start—teenagers—and about half of them were girls. Their tics had arrived suddenly, explosively, and were extreme; some were shouting more than 100 different obscenities. This last symptom in particular struck Müller-Vahl as odd. “Even in extremely severely affected [Tourette’s] patients, they try to hide their coprolalia,” she told me. The teenagers she was now seeing did not. She had the impression, she said, that “they want to demonstrate that they suffer from these symptoms.” Even more strangely, many of her new patients were prone to involuntary outbursts of exactly the same phrase: Du bist hässlich. “You are ugly.”
This might sound ridiculous, but South Park(Season 11, Episode 8) actually had an episode on Tourette’s that is fairly accurate on how a tic can develop. In the episode, Cartman realizes he can...
Although tics can be profoundly debilitating, some may fulfill a short-term psychological need: Teenagers with them might be able to skip school, or to limit unwanted or stressful activities. They can make friends online, and find a ready-made community. They receive attention and sympathy from their families and from strangers on the internet. Those with coprolalia can break taboos without consequences: Gisela made me do it. (A disorder where you can swear and use slurs in public seems almost comically apt for the age of cancel culture.) Hartmann said that making Tourette’s content could be, in some cases, “the ultimate freedom. Suddenly you can behave like a jerk, and people will even congratulate you, and become subscribers to your YouTube channel.” That dynamic can make these tic disorders harder to treat. Nanette Mol Debes, a specialist at the Herlev Hospital in Denmark, explained to me that some of the affected girls have balked when told that they must stop their movements. “Sometimes patients are sad or angry, and say: ‘It’s been nice to have tics.’”
This might sound ridiculous, but South Park(Season 11, Episode 8) actually had an episode on Tourette’s that is fairly accurate on how a tic can develop. In the episode, Cartman realizes he can fake having Tourette’s to get away with saying messed up stuff in public without punishment. Towards the end of the episode he slowly starts doing all of the tics involuntarily. The episode more or less matches everything that was said in the article above. I find it very interesting.
I don't have experience with this sort of thing specifically, but I wonder if it's similar: I think because of the stress of my previous job I picked up a series of phrases I would say compulsively under my breath at random, even surprising, intervals. Nobody ever heard them, but they were there. I managed to redirect the obscene ones, and have dropped most of them by simply not correcting the behavior. Acknowledgement of the event reinforces it in this situation. Reading the article reminded me of these not quite "tics."
If I can develop my own psychologically-induced tics at 25-29, then certainly more impressionable youths can passively absorb somebody else's tics simply by watching them. My first take hearing about this phenomenon months ago was that there were people pretending to have Tourette's and then accidentally defaulting to these behaviors. In a way the reality is worse, it's almost a psychological contagion, like the case of the cheerleaders.
This isn't to blame the influencers, or even the people who accidentally adopt these behaviors. It's people innocently raising awareness for their disorder, and young content consumers somehow accidentally adopting these behaviors. It also seems to provide an interesting research opportunity on the effects of social media in young minds, and deeper explanation of some weirder parts of psychology.
I hesitate to say much on this because it's a sensitive subject, but I do think you might be right on the cause here.
We live in a stressful, hellish society. We look around us and see wars, hate, violence, and so much worse, our most cherished downtime leisure plagued by knowledge that so much of it is enabled by slavery half a world away, and we're expected to still go to work/school/whatever in the morning and act like nothing's wrong. And we work more than basically any group before the last couple centuries- roundabout the industrial revolution, where work hours on average soared- despite supposed advances allowing more productivity.
We produce an infinity of waste, hate, destruction, and chaos, and that causes an unbelievable amount of strain on our minds. Once we find something our brain... 'likes' as an outlet, we'll latch onto it in desperation. If that means shouting profanity... Well, maybe that's it. And then, as that only causes even more stress from losing status because it is, subconsciously, only a terrible, maladaptive coping mechanism, we latch onto it all the harder- again, not consciously, but as a desperate measure by some deeper part of ourselves.
We also then latch onto the community that gave our brain that coping mechanism because our modern world reinforces isolation and loneliness. We don't want to lose that cool person we were following- we want to stay in our community, the only community we have... Which is made more and moreso into the only community that accepts us as we shout profanity because of a stress-induced reaction to a world that is too abysmal to handle.
I don't know if this is how it works- though it is hinted at as a possibility a time or two in the article above- but it'd certainly make sense to me, at least.
This is going to be one of those articles that the future looks back on with an air of disbelief and absurdity at how strange and crazed the old world was, in the same way we look back at the strange old hypertrends of the Victorian era.
Alternatively, a future reader might be disappointed to see another case of medical professionals looking at a phenomenon that they don't understand and doesn't fit into their previous understanding and labeling it as female hysteria with a nicer modern coat of paint.
This might sound ridiculous, but South Park(Season 11, Episode 8) actually had an episode on Tourette’s that is fairly accurate on how a tic can develop. In the episode, Cartman realizes he can fake having Tourette’s to get away with saying messed up stuff in public without punishment. Towards the end of the episode he slowly starts doing all of the tics involuntarily. The episode more or less matches everything that was said in the article above. I find it very interesting.