Why do tourettes sufferers use swear words in their outbursts, and not normal words?

Question

Genuine question. Not designed to inflame or offend. I don't have a lot of experience with the condition, but I wonder about this every time it gets exposure in the media.

Is there a genuine psychological reason why tourettes sufferers only use swear words in their outbursts?
Or have I got it completely wrong?
Could it be that there are just as many people with tourettes who shout out non-swear words and noises, and the media only portrays the sweary ones to gain a *shock factor*?

It appears to me from my sparse observations that sufferers of this condition experience a build up of pressure or tension, which they struggle to contain.
Then suddenly, like an elastic that has been stretched too far, they snap, and out comes a sudden vocal explosion.
I can't even begin to imagine how frustrating it must be to have this condition.

Answer 1

Tourette Syndrome or Disorder (TS) is a neurological disorder characterised by tics -- involuntary, rapid, sudden movements or vocalizations that occur repeatedly in the same way. People with TS feel an irresistable and compelling urge to perform their tics. Some people with TS are able to hold back their tics for up to hours at a time, but this only leads to a stronger outburst of tics once they are finally allowed to be expressed.

Research is ongoing, but it is believed that an abnormal metabolism of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin are involved with the disorder.

Coprolalia is vocalizing obscene words or phrases but does not have to be exclusively swear words. Many times coprolalia manifests itself as socially inappropriate or unacceptable words or phrases, such as the overwhelming urge to use a racial epithet, even though that is the last thing you want to do. Something about the "forbiddenness" of it impells a person with coprolalia to say it, seemingly against their will.

Other socially distressing symptoms are making obscene gestures (copropraxia), mimicking speech (echolalia), mimicking movement, etc.

TS people have associated attention and executive deficits that prevent them from regulating their behaviour in order for it to be socially acceptable.

Answer 2

Remember a boy in Norwich who use to continuously used to shout 'class forty-seven' (a railway locomotive in the UK) and 'Acle straight' (a road between Acle in Norfolk to Great Yarmouth), as well as fidget sometimes violently - he used to shout other things, like shop products, but in the time I knew him, he never swore. Your suspicion may be indeed concrete - the swearers would appear more 'sexy' in the UK media...If any sufferer was shouting 'Acle Straight' every 30 seconds into a camera, the reporters would turn away to where the money was.
It must be frustrating for some who are made to 'swear on order' when the media are in town!

Answer 3

it's actually not always swear words, and also not always speaking.

it can be classified with erratic behaviors as well.

and it's not always frustrating. there is medication for control tourettes, but some people on the drug find it limiting, and feels their personality is limited by not being about to have the 'raw' emotion associated with Tourettes. (See; "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" by Oliver Sacks)

Answer 4

A few swear. Some have a nervous twitch. Others do something over and over again. It is their way of releasing the tension inside.

It is amazing to me how a simple daily exercise program will rid them of such problems, BUT most doctors do NOT recommend exercise for hardly anything today. Just more pills. Perhaps because even the doctors hardly exercise.

Answer 5

My understanding is that there is some sort of problem where your brain cannot turn off the ability to not say inappropriate things. Children who don't know swear words just say other things or minor words like 'bum', its only as you get older and learn more about sex and swearing that these things unfortunately become more prominent to those tourettes sufferers that have this problem (not all do)

Answer 6

sufferers usually have a word maybe 2 that the say /shout uncontrollably (like a verbal sort of tic) the sufferer usually also suffers from physical tics. iyour elastic band analogy is true to somepeople although others seem to be more uncontrolled or unwilling to control. prob more frustrating to others aroubd them, after all people grow up with this from childhood and then seems to be normal behaviour to them

Answer 7

I am no expert but I would guess that the syndrome simply makes people say what they are thinking. It does not make them say swear words. It's just that many people, when they see other people, do seem to come up with strong negative opinions, rightly or wrongly.

Answer 8

From what I understand, a lot of what they say is derived from what they're thinking. Whilst a lot of the time, we might be thinking to ourselves how we'd like someone to 'F' off, we might not say it. Works sort of like that.

Anyway, the swearing kind of Tourettes is in the minority compared to most sufferers, and yes, it is the one that is generally most publicised.

Answer 9

Good question, I've always wondered that too.

I've often wondered if it would not be possible to train sufferers so that they use milder words in their outburts-though in our modern society you might ask what the point would be!-I simply wonder if it's possible.

Answer 10

I think it is just perceived that they have outbursts of curse words. I think they just have outbursts in general. See the following link.