INDIANAPOLIS — A recent study found teen girls are developing "tic-like" behaviors after watching TikTok videos of people with Tourette syndrome.
There are TikTok creators who document what it's like to live with Tourette syndrome, which is identified as irregular, uncontrollable and repetitive movements that can occur in any part of the body.
Doctors across the globe are now reporting a spike in teen girls having tic-like symptoms.
In one study, researchers suggested the teens developed the behaviors after watching TikTok videos of people with Tourette syndrome.
In another study, researchers analyzed TikTok videos with the hashtags "tic," "Tourettes," and "tourette." Researchers said they "believe this to be an example of mass sociogenic illness, which involves behaviors, emotions or conditions spreading spontaneously through a group," and called it a pandemic within a pandemic.
Researchers focused on the most popular content creators, like ZeeZee25, who can be viewed trying to control her Tourette syndrome while getting a COVID-19 test.
"Basically what this means is that you are displaying neurological symptoms that are inconsistent with what you would expect or there's no medical explanation for it," said Dr. Hillary Blake, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Riley Hospital for Children.
Blake hasn't treated any teen girls recently who've developed new tic-like behaviors during the pandemic, but she has treated people with what's called "conversion disorder" or "functional tics."
She said conversion disorders are not harmful.
"Sometimes, we'll see seizure-like episodes, which can be very frightening for families and outsiders and bystanders. However, we know in all of these, there's nothing medical causing the episodes," Blake said.
According to Blake, tics could be the result of stress.
"Sometimes, people will watch something, and their body might do something odd, just once, and their body learns that movement and just repeats it over and over and over again," Blake said. "When we conceptualize conversion disorder, I like to describe it to patients as, we'll have little stressors in our lives accumulate and when it becomes too much, it comes out in symptoms. And so what happens is there is a biological component to it. So your prefrontal cortex, which is where your emotions are processed, becomes overloaded with emotions, so it shifts that information to the back of the brain, which then causes these movements to occur."
Blake said doctors are learning new techniques to stop tics.
For parents, she said if you notice anything different or new symptoms in your child, you should see your primary care physician.
Click here for more information on Tourette syndrome.
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