What is Tourette Syndrome?

solidsquid · 01-07-2008, 09:26 PM

I hope to add more soon, but as just a quick trivia snippet:

The first possible documentation of a description of the primary symptomology of TS can be found in the Malleus Malefacarum, a treatise on witchcraft. A passage described a priest who was thought to be possessed by evil spirits:

Quote:

…when he passed any church, and genuflected in honour of the Glorious Virgin, the devil made him thrust his tongue far out of his mouth; and when he was asked whether he could not restrain himself from doing this, he answered: “I cannot help myself at all, for so he uses all my limbs and organs, my neck, my tongue, and my lungs, whenever he pleases, causing me to speak or to cry out; and I hear the words as if they were spoken by myself, but I am altogether unable to restrain them; and when I try to engage in prayer he attacks me more violently, thrusting out my tongue.

References:

Kramer, H. and Sprenger, J. (1486/1971). The Malleus Maleficarum (Montague Summers, Trans.). Mineola: Dover Publications.

Chemar · 01-08-2008, 09:35 AM

yes, sadly many people with neurological illnesses were then, and are still today, misunderstood and falsely labeled

we actually had a relative suggest my son needed "deliverance" after he was hospitalized with a severe TS tic

but thankfully awareness and knowledge has come a long way and, although we still have a loooong way to go in educating people about TS, still, a lot of progress has been made.

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