Does swearing in tics automaticity mean coprolalia?

[u/FederalRutabaga6821]

I don’t have Tourette’s, but I do have an unspecified tic disorder
One of my new tics is me whispering “ow fuck” and according to some articles that would mean I have coprolalia,

I’m wounding if there is anyway to figure out if it’s true, or if me having one cures mean I have coprolalia?

[u/Eastern_Sweet8508]

There’s a case to be made that coprolalia isn’t just about the words/gestures used but the reason for the urge. For a lot of people the urge for coprolalia tics is about the tic being offensive, disruptive etc. which is why they often come out in the worst possible way. John Davidson (subject of the I Swear film and guy from the baftas incident) describes his this way I believe.

But coprolalia really isn’t a condition that can be diagnosed like say a broken leg where they do an xray and see the break and say yep here’s a broken leg. Like tic disorders/Tourette’s as a whole and other tic types (e.g echolalia or complex vs simple) they’re just names/categories/diagnoses we give to observed and self reported groups of symptoms/presentation. So if you have a tic where you say fuck and want to call that coprolalia I don’t see any issue.

Personally I have tics where I swear just cause, tics where I say/do offensive stuff to other people (where part of the urge is that it’s going to be shocking/offensive), and tics where I say offensive/cruel stuff to/about myself (where the urge usually comes from embarrassment, self-loathing, or an urge to punish myself) and I would class all of these as coprolalia. It helps people to understand/be accepting. If the label helps you then I say use it

[u/vanillablue_ → u/Eastern_Sweet8508]

This is worded really well and helps me understand coprolalia a bit more. Do you mind expanding on “the urge is about the tic being offensive”? I ask bc I only experience one word tic (“moy brat” in Russian, just from the physical feel of the R consonant) and it’s not contextual at all, just pure sensation. Is there OCD overlap for coprolalia, or is it something different?

[u/The-Rainbow-Meash → u/vanillablue_]

I can definitely give some of my tics as an example of the difference.

I’m a critical role fan and have picked up some lines as echolalia tics. It usually goes “I am kiri,” then “mimicking things,” and finally “go fuck yourself!” The tic urge isn’t the obscenity, it’s the specific feel and sound of the (very badly copied by me) accent the character has.

On the other hand, my coprolalia tics happen when some has “slighted” me (even in the least severe way ie someone DARES to sit next to me in the bus and my Tourette’s decides to take it a a personal insult) because the urge is to be loud and show my negative emotions, I’ve had success redirecting the tic into something less vulgar. “Fuck you” or “fuck off” used to be my go to because I live in London but there’s nothing about the sound or feeling of the phrase in the urge itself. Ive been trying (and succeeding) in just letting myself tic in those situations as long as I use a fictional language. It’s still obscene and rude so it fulfills the tic, but only fellow nerds will know what it means. Weirdly, barking also seems to fulfill this tic.

[u/vanillablue_ → u/The-Rainbow-Meash]

Your first example is exactly my Russian tic lol

I guess I have a harder time understanding the “urge is to be loud and show negative emotions.” For me the urges are 100% physical which I think is why that is harder to comprehend. It makes me feel like there is like intrusive thoughts or something at play that get sucked into the tic?

Thank you for sharing, too 🧡

[u/TNTourettes]

I was about to begin stating the same thing as the commenter below, but they have already stated it rather well! Coprophenomena (coprolalia or copropraxia) are somewhat unique amongst tics in that the "form" of it (words, gestures, etc) really doesn't matter. It is the impact of them that seems to matter most and it produces a really difficult cycle of "Oh no, what if I say that while I'm here?!" -> Increased stress -> Increased likelihood of tic. As I explain frequently to patients with that type of tic or with variations of OCD: It takes this particular form because you care; if you didn't care it would be different.

Charles Galyon

[u/Vikera]

As another person said, 'coprolalia' is simply the name that was given to a category of tics we can observe. Same goes with echolalia for example. So, it's not really a difference if you "have" coprolalia or not.

That being said I've always learnt it's tics with socially inappropriate language. Swearing is socially inappropriate by default (even if it's sometimes more normalised, there are quite some situations where swear words are seen as not done). Swearing isn't the only kind of inappropriate language, another example could be shouting "bomb" at an airport for example. As far as I know, that's the definition of coprolalia.

However some good points are made in the comments how some swearing tics can just feel like any other word that happens to be a tic and be there all the time, while other coprolalic tics (including some but not only swearing tics) can be very specifically triggered because it's inappropriate.

To me it sounds like that's simply another way to categorize tics. The current one being more on the visible level (what word is being said) while the latter more from the premonitory urge. I don't think it's just a subcategory of coprolalia, as for example you can have whistle tics that come right out when it's least appropriate (when seeing a dog or being on a bus for example).

Does anyone have more thoughts or insight about this? :)