It's a moving season finale episode talking with guest Allen Shoaff (a Tourette Association Rising Leader and Youth Ambassador) after highlighting the upcoming Tic Con and a dedication to a Touretter the community recently lost. A subsequent project seeks to build a top-class treatment facility for complex cases of Tourette.  Thanks so much to the Tourette Association of America for making another season of episodes possible.  Tw: Some discussion of suicide, suicidal ideation, depression...

Back after Ben's laryngitis outage, it's a new episode, and our guest is Shelby Ally, a model and actor from Orange County, Calif., who manages a tic disorder and insomnia but has found power in self-acceptance and advocacy. Shelby, doing professionally what she loves, emphasizes the pursuit of dreams, with the acknowledgement of challenges. Plus: Listener questions about tics and temperture, art, and the TAA explainer card.  Shelby Ally on Instagram  Print a Tourette Association...

We're back from our holiday and personal-biz break with a solid conversation Ben recorded recently with guest Sophie. This wasn't their first time talking; Sophie had involved Ben in a project she was working on regarding Tourette portrayals and the media experience. They examine that a bit before covering all sorts of life ground, as tends to happen with Tourette conversations. And mark this on your calendar (United States folks): March 8, the National Day of Advocacy, with a visit to...

Talking with professional writer Tara Lerman about a great many things, including the vitality we can find in highlighting Tourette stories and ongoing issues the community faces. Plus: a heap of answers to the question about good/constructive activities for a young person with Tourette.    https://www.taralerman.com/  Tara Lerman, 'Why We Need to Change the Conversation Around Tourette Syndrome' Tourette Association of America FY22 Annual Report

On this episode, a thoroughly good-vibe conversation with Raven, aka @poecrastinator on the socials. The conversation covers stigma, ticcing openly without disclosure, developing coprolalia and much more. Plus: A parent wants some ideas for activities his son can take up that might help him live with Tourette.  https://www.youtube.com/@poecrastinator  https://www.instagram.com/poecrastinator/ TAA resouce directory

A very special episode today with guest Bianca Saez and guest host Kass @ticsntatts, two adult women with Tourette sharing raw experiences. Both from Australia, the voices you hear today are well-known in the community -- Kass for her many angles on neurodiversity awareness on social media, and Bianca for her popular YouTube channel and appearances on television highlighting the dynamicism of her Tourette. Guided by Kass, Bianca shares powerful stories and perspective on what it means to have...

Stephen DiJoseph of Pennsylvania is a lifelong musician whose work connects art and Tourette Syndrome and came to the podcast's attention by way of a short film he made expressing just that -- in a really effective way. It's an art film, but comes off relatable to people with Tourettic brains, and this episode -- exploring Tourette, OCD and so on through music and expression -- flows in that spirit. DiJoseph has a concert coming right up that people can stream online Nov. 11. See below. ...

We welcome back to the podcast Amanda Talty, president and CEO of the Tourette Association of America. We talk about what TAA has been up to, the upcoming TAA gala (Nov. 10 in NYC), science and research, and more. Don't miss this one! Plus: A question from a parent about a situation at school.  Tourette Gala, Nov. 10 in NYC TAA's YouTube  Update on wearable devices for Tourette Amanda's bio

Dan was diagnosed in the 90s, when he was in first grade, forcing him to navigate Tourette when there wasn't much easy access to community. How could he explain it? Did he need to? Could he just get by with masking? Familiar questions-to-self for many with tic disorders like Tourette. Plus: A dad explains Tourette to his 5-year-old.    Tourette Gala, Nov. 10 in NYC

Our guest is Erick, a trans man and lifelong Touretter who, in navigating outsider judgments, became his own boss, found success with it, and realized that you "can't waste your energy anymore worrying about the people who try and deny who you are or what you have," as he put it. The discussion covers self-acceptance, co-occuring conditions like OCD, working in one's own, best way, and the difference between group advocacy success and exhausting, individual battles.  Tourette Gala, Nov. 10...

We talk with the eloquent Tom White, who works in the space of startups, in a great conversation covering pursuit of intellectual curiosities and how to keep momentum through often serious challenges. Plus, listener questions: 1) How do Touretters get used to ticcing in public?; and 2) When is Billie Eilish going to be on the show?  Tourette Gala, Nov. 10 in NYC https://www.tomwhitenoise.com/

We start this week with some breaking news from the Tourette Association of America: a Tourette Syndrome research study from the CDC has just landed, and it concludes that the prevalence numbers for Tourette Syndrome and persistent tic disorders are double what we previously thought. One in 50 school-age children has Tourette or a persistent tic disorder. Read more.  Our conversation this week is with superb guest host Jhonelle and an excellent guest Touretter named Shawna -- the two of...

Peter Zhao -- you might know him as the great Fabulously Tourette -- takes the hosting helm for this episode featuring high school-aged guest Slayton, who has been managing Tourette in his life for about four years so far. Ben kicks us off with some quick Q&A about adults with Tourette before making way for the fantastic conversation that Peter and Slayton are able to create, with points about coprolalia, medications and side effects, bullying, creativity and more.  Fabulously Tourette...

Let's head to New Zealand, specifically Dunedin, home to a legendary music scene whose latest name, Mads Harrop, is our fantastic guest this week. Mads' experience with Tourette Syndrome, autism and anxiety directly informs and shapes her music, which has a great early-90s quality and lyrics you'll know how to follow. Mads just released a new EP, "My Chemical Fix," easily locatable through Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify and the like. Her thoughts on the brain, healing through music, and how she...

Season 8, Episode 2 follows last week's guest-host format with our friend Kass taking the reins in conversation with Lilly. They find quick connections in their respective Tourette experiences. Great discussions here about self evaluation and self care, imposter syndrome and dealing with later-onset tics. https://twitter.com/TicsnTatts https://www.instagram.com/ticsntatts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@ticsntatts  

Season 8 is here. Following our usual Episode 0, we're here with Episode 1, in which Ben steps back and Britney and Aiya take the reins. Britney (author Britney Wolf, that is) leads the conversation with Aiya, who was diagnosed last year at age 16. She knows she's always experienced Tourette, but her tics really picked up (she calls it a "tic boom") as the years progressed. This episode is great, especially for people Aiya's age, going through school and dealing with judgments. Discussion...

Season 8 is here! Via our traditional Episode 0, we kick it off with updated thoughts on popular listener questions. 

The Tourette community lost a hero Dec. 15, someone I named on the very first episode (Season 1, Episode 0) of Tourette's Podcast. Steve Bachner was my first frame of reference for TS. This is old-school Tourette Syndrome, with sensational coverage from Stossel, Geraldo, Springer and others orbiting Steve. They got to know his Tourette (or maybe a dimension of it) but did they ever get to know him as a person?

The Season 7 finale episode. Our guest is Tourette scientist Dr. Flint Espil, who talks with us about the latest Tourette treatments and questions before saying something we weren't expecting. In a great way.

Taking risks is ... risky. Might fail, right? You don't just suddenly decide to move from, say, the midwest to Los Angeles to try and turn your talents into a rewarding career. And, lord have mercy, having something like Tourette Syndrome and comorbids like anxiety doesn't help, does it? For pop singer Harper Starling, it did. This is, in fact, her story.

Keeping last week's episode - our analysis with tourette scientist Dr. Christine Conelea on some of the recent talk about young women and their symptoms -- in focus, this week is a referral to a response video from Tics n Tatts on YouTube. Kass, who runs the channel, adds great points. Tons left to explore with this question: has the Tourette science and treatment world gotten it wrong when it comes to Tourette and other neurological observations in women?

Recall our episode a while back with the authors of scientific report examining why doctors were seeing reported swells of young women over the course of the pandemic with Tourette-looking symptoms, and how social media like TikTok might be a player. We're revisiting that on this episode, but from a different angle. What else might be going on? Are we getting it wrong when it comes to what Tourette looks like in females?

Saddiq is a radiography student and fitness Instagrammer/TikTok-er whose energy-spending workouts serve a role for his Tourette, discussed here in addition to late diagnosis, coprolalia, creativity and the stress of travel.

A different kind of episode this week -- all listener questions, including some day-of zingers. Should we make this an occasional thing? An all-listener-questions episode? Contact.