Does Billie Eilish Have Tics? - 5 things to know about her medical condition

American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish has often been seen in some videos doing a weird movement of her neck repeatedly. Obviously, she wasn’t possessed. Does Billie Eilish have tics? If you are thinking so, then you are quite close, as what she was having was a tic attack from a syndrome known as Gilles de la Tourette syndrome or simply Tourette Syndrome. Eilish, back in 2018, through one of her Instagram posts, revealed that she has been suffering from this medical condition. So what is Tourette Syndrome? Now that we know whether does Billie Eilish have tics and the syndrome behind it, let us learn some facts about it.

What is Tourette Syndrome?

The disorder was named by French Neurologist Jean-Charcot Martin after his intern Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who published a report about 9 patients on that syndrome. Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which means the brain had some issues and doesn’t develop normally. This results in abnormal neural circuits formation between the basal ganglia (the part which controls movement) with other parts of the brain. Tourette syndrome can present with simple tics, usually motor tics (like blinking, facial movements, sniffing, tongue protrusion, stamping, shrugging shoulders, and often hitting self) and can go up to uncontrollable swearing, in severe cases. Now, let’s learn some facts about Tourette Syndrome.

5 Things To Know About Tourette Syndrome

All though there is extensive literature on this condition, these 5 things are worth knowing. They are:

1. To call it Tourette Syndrome one should have multiple motor tics with at least one vocal tic. Vocal tics can be as simple as clearing throat, to complex ones like echolalia (repetition of heard phrases) or coprolalia (use of obscene words)
2. Tourette Syndrome is more common than it was previously thought to be, affecting around 1 per 2000 individuals. It’s more common in males compared to females
3. The symptoms start in early childhood, usually before the age of 11 years and almost always before 21 years. The symptoms usually improve as the child grows, but might not disappear completely.
4. The tics of Tourette Syndrome often worsen with stress, fatigue, or stimulants like caffeine and nicotine.
5. Although there is no cure for this condition, behavioral therapy and certain medications usually of antipsychotic group of medications like haloperidol, olanzapine, aripiprazole, risperidone, etc can keep the symptoms in check to some extent.

 'I’ve taught myself ways of suppressing my tics and certain techniques to help [reduce] them when I don’t want to be distracting in certain situations' – Billie Eilish

Coming to the conclusion - does Billie Eilish have tics? Well she does, and it's a manifestation of her Tourette Syndorme. She also developed some ways to control her tics, which could be some kind of behavioral therapy she taught herself, and that's quite genius of her. What the point is, Tourette Syndrome is manageable to live with and it's nothing to be ashamed of (as many people fear having a tic attack in the public and anticipate to be ridiculed) just as Eilish has proved with all her achievements at such a young age and her boldness about sharing her condition is even more commendable.