A recent report revealed that a rising number of teenage girls are experiencing physical tics, a phenomenon that some doctors are saying could come from their use of social media apps like TikTok. .

As The Wall Street Journal reported, according to medical journal articles, physicians noted that the girls had been looking at videos of influencers on TikTok who claimed to have Tourette syndrome, a condition of the nervous system which, according to the U.S.

Donald Gilbert, a neurologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center who specializes in pediatric movement disorders and Tourette syndrome, has seen about 10 new teens with tics a month since March 2020.

Since March 2020, Texas Children’s Hospital has reported seeing approximately 60 teens with such tics, whereas doctors there saw one or two cases a year before the pandemic.

“There are some kids who watch social media and develop tics and some who don’t have any access to social media and develop tics,” said Dr

The issue expands to the influencers who claim to have Tourette syndrome, as well; one doctor “found that 19 of the 28 most-followed Tourette influencers on TikTok reported developing new tics as a result of watching other creators’ videos,” the Journal added. 

The Journal noted that, among other actions, “[t]o unlearn these tics, doctors recommend cognitive behavioral therapy and tell patients to stay off TikTok for several weeks.”