ArticleMovement disorders clinical practice2021
TikTok Tics: A Pandemic Within a Pandemic.
Article in Movement disorders clinical practice, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Tourette syndrome.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2026Review
- Stereotypes about tourette syndrome and associations with social media use: results from a large-scale german population survey.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Call for action: misinformation about Tourette syndrome from major media network.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- An Occurrence of Mass Psychogenic Illness: LeRoy, New York.Journal of child neurology · 2026Article
- Update on the Pathophysiology and Management of Tics.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2026Review
- Long-Term Follow-Up of Patients with Mass Social Media-Induced Illness Presenting with Functional Tic-like Behaviors.Movement disorders clinical practice · 2026Article
- The Digital Diagnostic Odyssey: Artificial Intelligence and Social Media Crowdsourcing Amid Pediatric Neurology Access Gaps.Annals of the Child Neurology Society · 2026Article
- A randomized clinical trial of remote Group-Based comprehensive behavioral intervention for tics.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Insufficient Quality of Mental Health Information on German-Speaking TikTok: A Content Analysis.Clinical psychology in Europe · 2026Article
- Pharmacological topics of interest for young people: misinformation on TikTok is common.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Attitudes towards Tourette syndrome and schizophrenia amongst psychology students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Case Report: Autism-like phenomenology in functional neurological disorder in the social-media era: over- and under-diagnosis of autism as a bidirectional clinical problem.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- A systematic review of functional neurological disorder in transgender people.International journal of transgender health · 2026Review
- Potential impact of social media and COVID-19 restrictions on adult attention-deficit rates.BJPsych bulletin · 2025Article
- Health Care Content and Engagement in Chronic Illness Instagram Posts: Content Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Comparing the portrayal of #autism and #neurodiversity on TikTok: creators, content, and representation.Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2025Article
- Neurodevelopmental Tics with Co-Morbid Functional Tic-like Behaviors: Diagnostic Challenges of a Complex Tourette Syndrome Phenotype.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Exploring like-attracts-like friendships in diagnosed and self-diagnosed populations: a description of 2 systematic reviews.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Review
- Evaluating the quality of TikTok videos on coronary artery disease using various scales to examine correlations with video characteristics and high-quality content.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTikTok is a social media platform where users create and share videos. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of this site greatly expanded. Tic and Tourette syndrome content also increased dramatically along with the number of patients with tics in neurology clinics.
objectivesWe compared the phenomenology of "TikTok tics" to typical tic disorders. We chose to analyze the most widely viewed videos and therefore focused on the most popular content creators.
methodsVideos with the keywords "tic," "Tourette," or "tourettes" were reviewed to identify content creators between March 11, 2020 and March 30, 2021. We performed a quantitative assessment of TikTok tics as well as a descriptive analysis of the entire series of videos of each content creator.
resultsThe mean age of the cohort was 18.8 years old, and the majority were women. Unlike the predominance of facial movements in typical tics, arm movements were most frequent. Average tics per minute was 29, and almost all recorded TikTok tics were severe, causing significant disability. Whereas coprolalia and self-injurious behavior are only infrequently encountered in typical tic disorders, they were present in the overwhelming majority of TikTok subjects.
conclusionsTikTok tics are distinct from what is typically seen in patients with Tourette syndrome, although share many characteristics with functional tics. We believe this to be an example of mass sociogenic illness, which involves behaviors, emotions, or conditions spreading spontaneously through a group. A modern clinician needs to remain abreast of social media sources as knowledge of media content is essential in managing patients in the current environment.
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