4. Swearing
One of the most well-known and publicized tics that a person might experience is an urge to swear or curse. When in quiet situations or speaking in polite company, they might be unable to suppress an urge to shout something inappropriate. For some, it might be the same curse word repeatedly. For others, it might mean a variety of different offensive language. While this is famously associated with Tourette’s at this point, it is only one form that the condition can take as we have seen.
You may though be wondering why cursing, in particular, should be common for those with Tourette’s. There are a few possible explanations. One is that the condition itself is all about the difficulty in suppressing and controlling one’s own impulses. This can create a sense of anxiety and tension, whereby a person might find themselves thinking ‘wouldn’t it be awful if I were to swear’. Perhaps a similar concern has run across your mind at some point, even though it is seemingly illogical. In the case of someone with Tourette’s though, this might then become an unavoidable urge.
Another possibility is that swear words are actually wired slightly differently in the brain than other types of word – potentially due to how often we use them, or how closely we associate them with things going wrong. In fact, many case studies looking at brain damage causing language loss have shown that swear words are often the only speech that remains in-tact!