There’s no doubt about it: since the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen a significant increase in the presentation of tics in our teen girls. If your daughter is experiencing this, she’s not alone.
There are three common types of tics: Tourette, persistent, or provisional tics. What we’ve been seeing lately in teen girls is an increase in persistent tics – these are classified by either twitching/jerking movements or shouting/yelling words or obscenities. Where is this coming from, and why is it happening? Is it treatable? At Roots Renewal Ranch, we know how concerning this can be. Let’s talk about what’s causing tics in our teens.
What Is Causing Tics In Teen Girls?
In 2021, a unique medical case was published in the National Library of Medicine. It detailed the case of a 16-year-old girl who had a history of trauma (sexual abuse) and was living with residual anxiety and depression as a result. As she was being treated, she developed verbal and motor symptoms that looked a lot like tics. Her neurological and physical examinations were 100% normal. In this case, the diagnosis was psychogenic tics secondary to the trauma she’d experienced.
When her abuser decided to take her to court over her allegations, her stress responses worsened. Her doctors decided to perform a CT and an EEG at this point – just to be safe. Again, the results were normal. At this point, her persistent tics were happening 10-20 times a day, and she had developed bruises on her neck because of them.
The deadline continued to loom for her testimony in court, and her tics worsened as a result. Some of her episodes landed her in the emergency room. The timing of her tics lined up with her recollection of the details of her sexual abuse.
Physical manifestations of trauma, depression, and anxiety are incredibly common. 31% of all adolescents have an anxiety disorder in the US. In Texas, over 14% of teens have reported a major depressive episode in the last year, and 1 out of every 5 girls will experience depression before they’re 18. Tics aren’t the most common physical symptom of anxiety, but they happen – especially in cases of severe trauma.
Anxiety activates the fight-or-flight response in the human body. This looks a little different for everyone. Some might experience a racing heart, shaking, insomnia, headaches, or stomach aches. Others may experience more serious manifestations of the fight-or-flight response, like tics, fevers, or IBS. All of these symptoms have been documented in cases of anxiety, trauma, or depression, and they’re all considered psychogenic responses.
In other words, the body can do some crazy things when the brain is pushed hard enough.
Social Media and Tics in Teens
As parents, most of us have a never-ending dialogue in our minds about how healthy social media is for our girls. We may go back and forth between giving them freedom and limiting the use of it because we just want what’s best for their mental health. There’s no denying that social media can lead to cyberbullying, but can it lead to psychogenic responses like tics? The study above only links tics to a history of trauma, depression, and anxiety. Can social media cause that trauma?
Science says no, not really.
A study was published in February of 2022 that was aimed at figuring out whether or not social media and tics were related during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers noticed a correlation between tic severity and reduced quality of life with increased social media use. The researchers asked the participants to rate their tic severity, and those who reported no increase in social media rated it a little lower than those who were using social media more.
Here’s the thing: researchers didn’t actually discover a link between social media use and tics. While 85% of the girls reported an increased frequency of their tic episodes, this was likely caused by the stress of the pandemic itself. What’s more, these girls already had tics before the start of the pandemic. The pandemic seemed to worsen an already-established medical disorder.
It’s easy to look at studies like this and automatically think “it’s social media’s fault”, but that’s not necessarily accurate. There is no denying that tic severity has increased since the start of the pandemic, but can we say with certainty that scrolling through social media has caused it? No – the trauma and stress related to the pandemic may have caused it. No link between the two has been unequivocally established.
The Link Between TikTok and Tics
The explosion of tics hasn’t just been limited to America during the pandemic. A psychiatrist from Germany, Kirsten Müller-Vahl, noticed that tic-like behaviors in adolescents increased from 10% to 20% last year. When Kirstin started noticing an increase in cases, she decided to investigate it.
One thing she noticed was that these cases started happening four months after a famous TikToker/Youtuber named Jan started sharing his journey with tics and Tourette’s syndrome. His channels were funny and engaging – they generated a lot of attention from adolescents and teens. Soon, he had over 2 million followers and he was selling recordings of his most popular tics. Kids were buying these recordings and using them as text tones or ringtones. They were sharing them with their friends. Some of his tics were used as common “inside jokes” or slang. Kids started making videos where they would also yell and say the same things. In other words, Jan’s behavior was influencing his viewers’ behavior.
Kristin decided to conduct a study of 32 new patients who said they’d recently started developing tics. She found that 63% of her patients were saying and doing some of the same things Jan did. They were almost parroting him.
The same was true for a British influencer who also documented her journey with Tourettes. One of her tics was the word “beans.” Soon, children and teens started developing tics where they’d say the word “beans.”
The TikTok hashtag #tourettes has now been used over 5 billion times.
None of this is proof that TikTok is causing tics. It does show us that adolescents and teens are impressionable, they believe in the right to stand out/be different, and they follow popular trends. It also proves that while the link between TikTok and tics may be strong, there is no indicator that TikTok itself is causing tics, but rather, it’s influencing them. An epidemiologist and psychology professor at King’s College in London has coined a term for this phenomenon: “Contagious Tics.”
Managing Tics in Teen Girls: Is Treatment Necessary?
Tics caused by trauma are a very real cause for concern, and they should always be taken seriously. Treatment for these tics can be very effective and usually consists of psychotherapy and/or medications. Some doctors choose to treat tics with Neuroleptic medications (antipsychotics), while others choose to prescribe SSRIs for serotonin production and brain balance. Group, individual, or even inpatient therapy is recommended to treat the root cause of tics – trauma, anxiety, or depression.
Nervous system calming strategies are also helpful in the management of tics – not just for the tics themselves, but also for their underlying causes. This can be anything from meditation to exercise or journal writing. If the source is trauma, that needs to be treated first and foremost.
If you notice persistent tics in your daughter, it’s important that she is taken to see a medical professional. “Contagious tics” may be the culprit, but it’s also possible that your daughter is living with underlying trauma that needs to be addressed. Treating her PTSD, depression, or anxiety could result in a discontinuation of her tics.
Treatment for Tics in Teen Girls
At Roots Renewal Ranch, we work with our teens to identify the source of their discomfort and the source of their strength. Our traumas may influence us, but they don’t define us. We work to find healthy coping strategies that young women can use to lead healthy and independent lives. Here, your daughter will work with experts to find ways to move beyond her trauma and anxieties. We offer inpatient treatment in a safe and beautiful space, and we believe our environment is ideal for healing.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help, call us today at 888-399-0489 or read more about our residential treatment program.
Frequently Asked Questions
What type of tics are teen girls developing?
Common tics in teen girls include vocal (repetition of obscene words or phrases) and physical tics (like clapping, pointing, or jerking/twitching movements.) When trauma is the cause, they’re called “psychogenic tics.”
What to do if my teen girl develops tics?
Psychological treatment for PTSD, generalized anxiety, or depression is advised for psychogenic tics. Medication can also help
