A Cursing Brain?

In the mid-19th century, a French physician reported the bizarre behaviour of a young aristocratic woman who would suddenly, without warning, erupt in a startling fit of obscene shouts and curses. Tourette syndrome is a set of behavours, including recurrent ticcing and involuntary shouting (sometimes cursing) as well as obsessive-compulsive actions. The history of this syndrome, as described in this text, reveals how cultural and medical assumptions have determined and radically altered its characterization and treatment from the early-19th century to the late 1990s. This text traces the problematic classification through three distinct but overlapping stories: that of the claims of medical knowledge, that of patients' experiences, and that of cultural expectations and assumptions. Earlier research asserted that the bizarre ticcing and impromptu vocalizations were psychological - resulting from sustained bad habits or lack of self-control. However, now patients exhibiting these behaviours are seen as suffering from a neurological disease and generally are treated with drug therapy.