TikTok tics: Sheffield’s Apple Tree Centre helping young people as Tourette's is linked to social media

Since the start of the pandemic, paediatricians and child mental health practitioners have noticed an increase in tic symptoms in some children and adolescents already diagnosed with tic disorders, and a marked increase in presentations of sudden and new onset of severe and ‘tic-like’ attacks.

A study in the British Medical Journal suggests that social media sites like TikTok may be 'inadvertently reinforcing and maintaining symptoms', as they promote the sharing of videos of influencers with symptoms.

Social media influencer Becca Braccialle uses TikTok to raise awareness of her Tourette’s and tic attacks - which she was diagnosed with last October during lockdown - and has more than 600,000 followers.

Researchers believe there is ‘an urgent need’ to investigate the situation further, with specialist tic clinics seeing an increased referral rate.

Tics can be defined as sudden, purposeless, repetitive, non-rhythmic, stereotyped movements or vocalisations.

Typically, childhood tics start around five to seven-years-old and it is more common in males in a ratio of four to one.

The occurrence of tics forms the basis of Tourette’s syndrome, though those living with Tourette’s may present with other features too, and which may affect multiple parts of the body.

The severity of symptoms varies from person to person, peaking in the early teenage years, and for some with Tourette’s syndrome, it leaves them in pain.

Coprolalia - the compulsory saying of ‘dirty’ words, which is pathognomonic of the syndrome - is commonly associated with Tourette’s syndrome, but this affects approximately 10 percent of individuals.

Whilst studies suggest that one third of children are symptom-free as adults, one third will have mild tics and the remainder will require clinical attention.

There are medications to help manage symptoms, but there is no known cure.

Campaigners have for some time been fighting for increased funding to provide more support and research for those with Tourette's syndrome.

According to charity Tourettes Action, it is estimated that Tourette’s affects one school child in every hundred, and more than 300,000 children and adults in the UK live with the condition.

Despite this, there are only three known specialist Tourette’s centres in the UK - The Apple Tree Centre in Sheffield and two in London.

With demand for services at full capacity or with lengthy waiting lists, families have described being left on their own, and families with children who have been diagnosed with Tourette’s have also expressed concerns over the lack of medical support.

A petition launched earlier this year calling on the Government to take action was signed by more than 71,000 people.

The Department of Health and Social Care has said that funding has been committed to support research into Tourette’s syndrome and since 2018, £2.1 million has been invested into such research.

It added that clinical commissioning groups were best placed to plan the provision of services subject to local prioritisation and funding, and that clinical psychologists are well placed to develop new services and undertake further bespoke development to respond to the needs of patients with Tourette’s syndrome.

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