They Say - 3 in 1000 Kids Have Tourette Syndrome
Tourette Syndrome (often referred to as “Tourette’s Syndrome”, which I’ve been told is incorrect) is one of those disorders that is easy to make fun of. It’s hilarious to hear someone scream out four-letter words at random, right?
In reality, it’s not much fun, of course. And 3 out of every 1,000 kids have it, according to a new report from the Yale University School of Medicine.
In 1980, “the definition of the condition was broadened to include milder cases,” according to Lawrence D. Scahill, an associate professor of nursing and child psychiatry at Yale. That meant that the number of cases increased. For awhile the estimate was 6 out of every 1,000 children. Now it’s half that, and Scahill feels that this is because we are not identifying people with Tourette. “Half of the cases are being identified and monitored,” he says, “but half are not.”
Tourette (again, I’ve been told that “Tourette’s” is the wrong way to refer to the syndrome) is more than just yelling out “sh*t” when you wanted to say “pass the butter, please.” There are various tics that can occur, some more minor than others. The key, according to an article in U.S. News and World Report, seems to be identifying the cases and providing proper treatment.
Whenever I see the definition of something being “expanded” I always wonder why. Take autism as an example. There are more and less severe cases on what is now known as “the autism spectrum.” But all types of autism are not created equal. This isn’t to say that one form is more worthy of attention than another. But if they aren’t the same, why give them the same name? Tourette Syndrome could be going down a similar path, if it isn’t there already.
Source: U.S. News and World Report
Image: Wikipedia
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Tags: adhd, autism, autistic, Brett Singer, disorders, studies, they say, tourette syndrome, tourette's syndrome, u.s. news and world report, yale
5 Comments
Shana commented on Jun 06 09 at 1:15 pmI have heard that the random swearing is not necessarily a direct symtom of the condition but more an emotional reaction to the frustration of dealing with the tics and spasms.
LogicalMama commented on Jun 06 09 at 1:59 pmAs a mom that went through a “transient tic” with a child, I was told that Tourette is not diagnosed unless it lasts longer than nine months. Also, I was told by my child’s pediatrician that there needed to be a number of tic’s, including physical and verbal. I can speak from experience that there is a lot of pressure from family and friends and if people do stress out over it, the anxiety can take over.
Transient tic’s are very common in children (more common than Tourette Syndrome) from five to nine years old and it can be daunting trying to patiently “wait and see.” I can see where the medical field would be pressured to “broaden” the syndrome because parents want to “fix” their children when things aren’t perfect! Like it or not, we are a culture that has a high percentage of people that believe taking a pill fixes everything! Looking into the medications, however, you can see that it doesn’t always help and can, on occassion, induce more tics.
BlackOrchid commented on Jun 06 09 at 3:16 pmLogicalMama thank you for your comment! You are SO right.
My daughter has a mild “transient tic” and I’ve been obsessing over it - whereas my pediatrician and her teachers are all “no big deal”, my natural state of neurosis is driving me, them, and her kind of nuts. And I really have to NOT focus on it and bug her about it, or it seems to get worse!
Anyway my experience has been that they are pretty careful about diagnosing Tourette. Other than the other moms (and me) jumping to overly scary conclusions, the expert opinions I’ve gotten have all been really reasonable (and amazingly patient with my panicky behavior).
When did your child’s tic go away? (see, here I am obsessing again, you don’t have to indulge me). My daughter is five. I notice that she doesn’t do it now that school is out, maybe less stress? I also think the days where she’s much more active — swimming, running around, doing sports — I never see it on those days.
ann05 commented on Jun 06 09 at 11:45 pmOne of my very good friends has Tourette’s (he writes it that way, so I will too) and when I get to spend time with him I see how difficult both the syndrome and people’s stereotypes about it make life for him. He doesn’t curse, ever, but he does occasionally bark, and even though he explains to people why he’s doing that, they still act irritated, like he’s interrupting them. I wish people had a clearer idea about what the symptoms are, more than cursing, and how many drugs he takes to try to regulate them and what that does to his body. It’s definitely not a joke.
Shana commented on Jun 07 09 at 10:34 pmThis will sound weird, but you guys should see the MTV True Life on Tourette Syndrome. They talked to three young people copiong with it. One was a married father that competed professionally as a dirt biker and as you can imagine the syndrome did make it get in the way a lot. Another was a teenage girl that medications did not work on and she was turning to brain surgery. She had it the roughest emotionally out of all of them being a seventeen (or sixteen) year old girl. And then another was a guy that decided to stop taking the medications because it caused him to end up extremely overweight and depressed and he just decided to learn to cope. Unfortunately the ticks made finding work almost impossible and he didn’t date all that much. It was really interesting seeing how it affects real people rather than being played as a joke in a comedy.
