A new type of Tourette-like disorder is spreading across the Internet

Intrigued by the increase in the number of patients suffering from verbal tics similar to Tourette’s syndrome, a team of psychiatrists at the University of Hanover have cataloged what they believe to be a new type of disorder that is transmitted only through social media. They call it MSMI.

MSMI or social networking disorder (disease caused by social media) is a type of social disorder Caused by. People with this problem acquire verbal tics through repeated exposure to content created by people with these problems. Researchers studied the specific case of Jan Zimmermann, a successful young man German YouTube with over 2 million subscribers Tourette says he is suffering.

The authors of the psychiatric study, which was recently published in Oxford University Press, explained that many of the tics detected in young patients diagnosed with Tourette’s are in fact regular viewers of Zimmermann and the tics are copied from those of YouTubers. Some recorded tics make those affected say “ “Heil Hitler”, “You are ugly” (Iris Fo) s Pommes (French fries) for no apparent reason.

However, the symptoms associated with Turrett Syndrome They tend to appear at a very young age, while these tics are acquired later, which rules out Tourette’s. The researchers write:

‘Tourette’-like functional symptoms can be considered the ‘modern’ form of the well-known motor variant of MSI. Moreover, they can be considered a twenty-first century expression of the culture-related stress response of a postmodern society that emphasizes the uniqueness of individuals and values ​​their putative exclusivity, thus Reinforcing attention-seeking behaviors and exacerbating the permanent identity crisis for the modern person.

The writers express their desire to “Raising awareness of the current global reach of the ‘Turrett-type’ MSMI. Large numbers of young people are affected in different countries, greatly affecting health systems and society as a whole.”[[[[Oxford University Press via interested in trade]