{"id":358847,"date":"2026-02-27T09:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/358847\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T09:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:34:07","slug":"the-urge-is-too-strong-to-control-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/358847\/","title":{"rendered":"the urge is too strong to control\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, Tourette syndrome (TS) was in the news after a racial slur was broadcast<\/a> during Sunday night\u2019s Bafta<\/a> awards ceremony.<\/p>\n

The word had been blurted out by John Davidson, the Tourette syndrome campaigner on whom the film I Swear<\/a> is based, who shouted it as Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan<\/a>, the stars of the film Sinners<\/a>, were on stage presenting an award.<\/p>\n

After the ceremony, Davidson said he was \u201cdeeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning\u201d.<\/p>\n

What is Tourette syndrome?<\/p>\n

It is a neurological condition that is characterised by involuntary, repetitive and sudden movements or sounds known as tics.<\/p>\n

How common is it?<\/p>\n

It affects one schoolchild in every hundred and more than 300,000 children and adults in the UK, according to Tourette\u2019s Action, a support and research charity for people with TS. There are no accurate statistics available for the Republic.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Bafta N-word controversy: BBC producers \u2018didn\u2019t hear\u2019 slur while \u2018working in a truck\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Are there different types of tics?<\/p>\n

Yes, there are motor tics and vocal tics, Tourette\u2019s Action says. These tics are also divided into simple and complex.<\/p>\n

Some of the simple motor tics include eye blinking, eye rolling, shoulder shrugging and limb and head jerking, while simple vocal tics include whistling, coughing and grunting, among others.<\/p>\n

More complex motor tics include jumping, twirling, touching people or obscene movements or gestures, while more complex vocal tics include uttering words or phrases out of context, saying socially unacceptable words, or repeating phrases.<\/p>\n

Can people control them?<\/p>\n

They\u2019re involuntary, but Tourette\u2019s Action says many people are able to suppress them for a short time.<\/p>\n

\u201cA helpful way of understanding this is to compare it to blinking. For a short period of time it is possible to keep your eyes wide open and avoid blinking \u2013 and with practice you will get better at doing it for longer \u2013 but eventually you will have to blink as the urge is too strong to control,\u201d the organisation says.<\/p>\n

Does everyone swear or make inappropriate gestures if they have TS?<\/p>\n

According to Tourette\u2019s Action, this is one of the biggest misconceptions of the condition. <\/p>\n

Coprolalia is the clinical term for tics that produce socially unacceptable words. Between 10 and 30 per cent of people with TS have this symptom, the UK-based charity adds.<\/p>\n

If people with TS use these words, does that reflect their beliefs?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are not a reflection of a person\u2019s beliefs, intentions, or character,\u201d the charity says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople with Tourette\u2019s can say words or phrases they do not mean, do not endorse, and feel great distress about afterwards. These symptoms are neurological, not intentional, and they are something John \u2013 like many others with Tourette\u2019s \u2013 lives with every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are there any other symptoms of TS?<\/p>\n

Up to 85 per cent of people with TS have co-occurring symptoms, which may include obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anger\/rages and anxiety. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week, Tourette syndrome (TS) was in the news after a racial slur was broadcast during Sunday night\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[119864,3412,18,117,19,17,107489,2212],"class_list":["post-358847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bafta","tag-bbc","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-michael-b-jordan","tag-weekendreview"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116141913709463777","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}