Health

Tourette’s illness affects young women as experts blame TikTok and Covid lockdowns: 60 minutes


Young women across Australia are afflicted with a mysterious mental illness – with experts fearing social media addiction and a stress pandemic are taking their toll.

Tourette-like disorder is seeing teenagers with uncontrollable ‘tics’ – includes outbursts, convulsions, popping, noises, swearing, kicking and hitting.

Doctors are also witnessing a global phenomenon where previously healthy young women have reported suddenly falling ill with verbal and physical violent impulses.

But what caused the rapid rise in cases has puzzled parents and health authorities.

One possible explanation is that anxiety and stress stemming from prolonged periods of isolation coupled with an obsession with apps like TikTok, could be the catalyst.

‘This bright, agile, fiercely independent young woman is just stuck in her own body, in her own head. It’s really hard to watch,’ Melissa told her daughter’s 60 Minutes Metallica – before this kid slapped her mom.

Metallica slaps mother Melissa - one of many agonies the teenager has suffered as a result of the new condition for young Australian girls

Metallica slaps mother Melissa - one of many agonies the teenager has suffered as a result of the new condition for young Australian girls

Metallica slaps mother Melissa – one of many agonies the teenager has suffered as a result of the new condition for young Australian girls

Metallica said ‘locking the door and not seeing my friends much’ had made her mood worse. During the pandemic, her sister Charlie developed the same condition.

Charlie said: “When she was in pain, I would walk away, so it didn’t upset me and make it worse.

Their family has chosen to look at the two disorders in a positive light, saying some of their feelings are absurd ‘you can’t help but laugh’ – but the reality is much sadder.

Both Metallica and Charlie needed ongoing care, both suffering from severe forms of the condition.

Similar cases reported through the pandemic have increased dramatically, mostly in teenage girls, who can see symptoms appear quickly overnight.

Doctors are still shrouded in secrecy about its cause – but many believe it is directly linked to the social consequences of lockdowns and reliance on social media.

Michaela started experiencing extreme pain when she was 14 years old, which came so quickly, her parents immediately took her to the hospital.

‘I was making dinner, I heard some noises and screams and saw her lying on the floor. I think she’s having a big anxiety attack, followed by an arm flying then a leg,’ her mother said.

‘She said she didn’t do it on purpose. It’s really scary, really really scary. ‘

Michaela was one of the first girls to develop the new disorder - which terrified her parents and doctors when she was first taken to hospital after the pain set in overnight.

Michaela was one of the first girls to develop the new disorder - which terrified her parents and doctors when she was first taken to hospital after the pain set in overnight.

Michaela was one of the first girls to develop the new disorder – which terrified her parents and doctors when she was first taken to hospital after the pain set in overnight.

Michaela, now 16, was one of the first to develop a seemingly new condition – doctors admit to being ‘shocked’ and ‘frightened’ by her disorder.

She is doing banana tree plantings, rolling on the ground and even doing splits – with her school constantly calling her parents to notify them of new tics.

“I was constantly struggling,” she said.

Nicole, a 15-year-old British man, began suffering from cysts shortly before her 13th birthday – with mild facial convulsions that turned into violent physical and verbal outbursts.

The girl’s mother said her most confrontational encounters were when she would often scream ‘I’m Madeleine McCann, I’ve been kidnapped’ in public.

Like many other cases, Nicole’s feelings of pain came through during Covid when she was admitted to being ‘very lonely’.

‘I didn’t know what to do with myself. You can’t see friends or family, it’s not a great thing to be there,’ she told 60 Minutes.

Professor Russell Dale – a pediatric neurologist at Westmead Hospital – said he had heard girls ‘all over the world’ suffering from conditions similar to the young women brought to him .

He said the first case he saw of the disease was in Michaela two years ago and it was ‘something different’ from anything he had witnessed before.

‘There are pretty violent movements, hitting yourself, but the vocals are different too. Instead of simple noises, there are complex sentences – which is quite odd, I’ve never seen that,’ he told the show.

Experts believe it was the 'perfect storm' of the pandemic, prolonged isolation and reliance on social networks that caused the new phenomenon

Experts believe it was the 'perfect storm' of the pandemic, prolonged isolation and reliance on social networks that caused the new phenomenon

Experts believe it was the ‘perfect storm’ of the pandemic, prolonged isolation and reliance on social networks that caused the new phenomenon

Professor Dale ruled out Tourette as the cause of the outbreak because it was found four times more often in boys and appeared gradually in childhood.

He said the key factor seems to be the stress of the pandemic combined with the overuse of TikTok and other apps, which is forcing young women’s bodies to ‘damage’.

“Girls all over the world have been using similar phrases – that’s what led us to think that social media is a link to what’s going on,” he said.

The professor points to imitations of TikTok videos showing tics being broadcast around the world – with 16-year-old Michaela admitting that watching the clips triggered her behavior and even saw her it reflects it.

She has now ‘completely recovered’, Professor Dale says the disorder is ‘definitely’ fixable but admits only 20% of his patients have recovered from the condition.

He estimated hundreds of thousands of girls around the world could suffer the same illness as a result of the ‘perfect storm’ of the global pandemic.



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