science

Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome

Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome rather than just read about it. In short: Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome include legal advocacy and health insurance issues, awareness of notable individuals with Tourette syndrome, and treatment of TS in the media and popular culture. Tourette syndrome is an inherited neurological disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by the presence of motor and phonic tics.

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Reference excerpt

Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome include legal advocacy and health insurance issues, awareness of notable individuals with Tourette syndrome, and treatment of TS in the media and popular culture. Tourette syndrome is an inherited neurological disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by the presence of motor and phonic tics. Tourette's is a misunderstood and stigmatized condition, often mentioned in the popular media. Tourette syndrome was once considered a rare and bizarre syndrome. It is no longer considered rare, but is often undetected, due to the wide range of severity, with most cases classified as mild. Tourette's is defined as part of a spectrum of tic disorders, which includes provisional and chronic tics. With increased knowledge of the full range of severity of Tourette syndrome—including milder cases—it has shifted from a condition only recognized in its most severe and impairing forms, to one recognized as a condition which is often mild, and which may be associated with some advantages and some disadvantages.

Legal and insurance issues There is no reason to believe that persons with Tourette's have diminished capacity in regards to understanding legal issues. Examples of federal legislation which protects some rights of individuals with TS in the United States include the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Legal and other advocacy information regarding the challenges associated with TS can be found on the website of the Tourette Association of America. A review of all cases tried in state and federal courts in the US between 1985 and 2003 (civil rights, criminal, education, family, labor, and social security) found that TS was implicated in only about 150 cases, 21 of which were criminal, over 18 years. The authors concluded that TS "rarely leads to criminal behavior, but patients with TS who have behavioral comorbidities are at risk of being involved with the legal system".

Latent advantages

Discussions with adults who have Tourette syndrome reveal that not everyone wants treatment or a "cure", especially if that means they may "lose" something else in the process. Some believe that there may even be latent advantages associated with the genetic vulnerability. Research supports some advantages associated with Tourette syndrome. A controlled study on a small (13) group of individuals with TS found that cognitive control may be enhanced in young people with Tourette's because the need to suppress tics results in more efficient control of inhibitions. A subsequent study confirmed and extended the paradoxical result that individuals with Tourette's exhibit greater levels of cognitive control than age-matched healthy peers. There is some evidence to support the clinical lore that children with "TS-only" (Tourette syndrome in the absence of other comorbid conditions) are unusually gifted: neuropsychological studies have identified advantages in children with TS-only. A study of full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ) testing showed that children with TS-only had higher IQ scores, relative to their parents, than predicted by statistical models. Another neurological examination of motor function found that 76% of children with TS-only were faster than average on timed motor coordination, although similar results were not found among children with TS who also had ADHD. In a study of eight children, ages 8–17, those with Tourette syndrome were found to be much quicker at processing certain mental grammar skills than children without the condition. The abnormalities that lead to tics may also lead to "other rapid behaviors, including the cognitive processing of rule-governed forms in language and other types of procedural knowledge". The investigator, Michael Ullman, PhD, said, "These children were particularly fast, as well as largely accurate, in certain language tasks. This tells us that their cognitive processing may be altered in ways we have only begun to explore, and moreover in a manner that may provide them with performance that is actually enhanced compared [to] that of typically developing children".

Notable individuals There are many individuals with Tourette's, living and deceased, recognized in their fields, or for whom obsessive-compulsive tendencies associated with Tourette's may have helped fuel their success.

Samuel Johnson An example of a person who may have used obsessive-compulsive traits to advantage is Dr. Samuel Johnson, lexicographer, who had Tourette syndrome as evidenced by the writings of James Boswell. Johnson wrote A Dictionary of the English Language in 1747, and was a prolific writer, poet, and critic. The "case of Dr Johnson accords well with current criteria for the Tourette syndrome; he also displayed many of the obsessional-compulsive traits and rituals which are associated with this syndrome". According to Boswell,

... while talking or even musing as he sat in his chair, he commonly held his head to one side towards his right shoulder, and shook it in a tremulous manner, moving his body backwards and forwards, and rubbing his left knee in the same direction, with the palm of his hand. In the intervals of articulating he made various sounds with his mouth; sometimes giving a half whistle, sometimes making his tongue play backwards from the roof of his mouth, as if clucking like a hen, and sometimes protruding it against his upper gums in front, as if pronouncing quickly under his breath, 'Too, too, too.' All this accompanied sometimes with a thoughtful look, but more frequently with a smile. Generally when he had concluded a period, in the course of a dispute, by which time he was a good deal exhausted by violence and vociferation, he used to blow out his breath like a Whale. There are many similar accounts; in particular, Johnson was said to act in such a manner at the thresholds of doors, and Frances Reynolds—younger sister of artist Joshua Reynolds—said that, "with poor Mrs Williams, a blind lady who lived with him, he would quit her hand, or else whirl her about on the steps as he whirled and twisted about to perform his gesticulations". When asked by English poet Christopher Smart's niece, a young child at the time, why he made such noises and acted in that way, Johnson responded: "From bad habit."

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome

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Example 2 — changing one variable

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Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome

In research: Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Samuel Johnson, Tourette syndrome, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

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