Life's a Twitch - Tourette Syndrome Site (Response 45)!

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Question 45: What happened to the tics during your presentation today? You speak of the brain's supervisor over motor movements going on coffee breaks in Tourette syndrome -- was the supervisor not permitted a break? M.B., ON, Canada

Hey M:

A good way to conceptualize tics are as a "release valve" for extra disinhibited energy that is not properly supervised (i.e. the coffee breaks). If I am drumming, juggling, presenting, or am otherwise engaged in a task which requires considerable energy to attend to all simultaneous demands there IS no extra energy requiring supervision -- it is all channeled and so a release valve is not necessary. Hence I am not 'suppressing' -- the function that the tics serve is simply not required at those times and the supervisor's less-than-stellar performance is masked.

I also used a "leaky brakes" analogy in my talk today to discuss the neurology in rather simplistic terms ..................to also extend that analogy somewhat, one would only ever NOTICE that one's brakes are leaky when one applies them. One would not apply them when one is, for example, bombing down a highway. In a situation like that the less the brakes are on the better. Otherwise performance is impeded. The same goes for when I'm bombing thorugh my presentations -- brakes need not apply.

Hope this helps M.!

cheers,
Dr. Dunc.

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Last updated on March 25, 2022

All activities related to Life's A Twitch!® are conducted by B. Duncan McKinlay, Ph.D., C.Psych. (Retired) in a private capacity and do not represent the Ministry of Children and Youth Services or the Government of Ontario.

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