A group of psychiatrists from the University of Hanover has discovered a new type of mental disorder that resembles Tourette’s syndrome and is “transmitted” through social networks. This was reported by Oxford University Press.
A new type of disorder is accompanied by verbal tics, which, paradoxically, are transmitted through content created by people suffering from similar problems. The disorder is called MSMI. This is a “social networking disorder.”
Researchers have examined the specific case of Jan Zimmermann, a young and successful German YouTuber with more than two million subscribers, who claims to have been diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome.
Psychiatrists explain that tics that occur in young patients diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome appear in those who are actually regular Zimmerman viewers. Moreover, patients copy the blogger’s tics. Some of the verbal tics he recorded “make” victims say “Du bist häßlich” (“you are ugly” in German) or “pommes” (“potato chips”) for no apparent reason.
However, the symptoms associated with Tourette’s syndrome usually appear at a very early age, while these tics are acquired much later, which excludes the nature of Tourette’s syndrome.