Tourette's & Tic Disorders

Tourette's and tic disorders are not harmless quirks or funny verbal slips. They are intense, motor-neurological imperatives driven by an inability to filter or turn off environmental sensory input.

In a typical brain, neural pruning eliminates excess synaptic connections. In a Tourettic brain, that pruning does not happen. Instead, there is a hyper-development of new synapses, constantly linking unconnected thoughts, ideas, physical urges, and actions together. Because I process my sensory environment at all times without a filter, my nervous system is in continuous, high-intensity motion.

I live with severe Tourette's. At my baseline before finding effective medication, I experienced upwards of six tics per second. My tics were repetitive, constant, and frequently self-harm based. Managing them was nearly impossible because they were tangled up with premonitory urges, demand avoidance, fake hunger, severe physical pain, paranoia, and altered perceptual states, like the feeling of a thousand buzzing flies crawling across my body when suppressing movement.

Because the brain consumes massive amounts of energy processing this unceasing stream of sensory data and motor output, Tourette's intersects directly with metabolic fatigue and physical exhaustion.

Finding the right medications, including treatments for tic frequency and sleep/arousal regulation, made a massive difference in my daily life. It gave my nervous system room to breathe. I do not push forced behavioral suppression or anti-medication purism. Suppressing tics is a personal choice based on which bodily experience hurts less. My role as a social worker is to support you through the real-world impacts of your neurological reality, helping you navigate care teams, manage side effects, and build a life that honors your body.

In my practice, we work with the unceasing neurological buildup that drives movement, thoughts, and physical imperatives, understanding how tics interact with demand avoidance, sensory overload, intrusive thoughts, metabolic fatigue, and altered perceptual states, managing the actual physical toll, soreness, and injury caused by repetitive movements and motor storms, and support your autonomy in pharmaceutical choices, working alongside prescribers, and securing structural accommodations.

Explore related focus areas across my work:

• ADHD (navigating stimulant impacts, executive functioning, and unmasked movement)

• OCD & Compulsive Experiences (understanding sensorimotor compulsions, physical imperatives, and Tourettic OCD)

• Pain (managing the somatic and physical toll of chronic self-harm tics and repetitive strain)

• Demand Avoidance (addressing involuntary threat responses and autonomy drives)

• Neurodivergence (honoring unmasked nervous systems and rejecting deficit-based frameworks)

• Emotional Regulation & Overwhelm (building co-regulation and downshifting sensory overload)

• Accommodations & Inaccessible Systems (securing structural flexibility in workplaces, universities, and schools)