Social Functioning In John's Not Mad

Those who struggle with a severe case of Tourette’s Syndrome can experience great difficulty throughout social functioning in society. The waxing and waning nature of tics allows for specific factors to worsen or progress symptoms when exposed to stressors seen in everyday life. Taking this into consideration, clinical psychologists should evaluate an individual’s strengths and weaknesses regarding abilities of social functioning in addition to just symptom management. The term social functioning refers to the level at which one’s social skills reside in addition to mental development and the support of peers. In response to these factors, social adjustment refers to setting goals that appropriately reflect the level of social interaction of
This documentary is based on a teenage boy living in small town Galashiels, Scotland who was clinically diagnosed with TS at a young age. Within this film, John Davidson spoke on a variety of social challenges that he encounters on a daily basis throughout his life. John has a highly severe case of Tourette’s, complete with motor and vocal tics as well as a large bout of coprolalia. He described these intense rushes of vocalizations as though words are forcing their way out of his mouth, further reinforced by his habit of clamping one hand over his mouth to avoid foul commentary or loud yelps. Throughout John’s childhood, his tics waxed and waned from spitting, cursing, and muscle spasms to animal noises, twitches, and stuttered speech (this is common in many cases of TS). These tics were seemingly debilitating, brought on by social pressure surrounding public interaction. One London study confirms the idea behind impaired social functioning with TS through the simulation of real-life problem-solving scenarios. Genuine TS patients - without comorbid symptoms - were gathered against clinically healthy subjects in a test over interpersonal problem-solving tactics. The results showed the significantly lower levels of TS patients who were able to create and identify acceptable solutions in each scenario. The study also states that each TS patient did not complete aspects of executive function as precisely as the healthy patients (Channon et al, 2003). This possible skew is most likely attributed to the 50% of TS patients that maintain some sort of executive impairment, such as developmental delay, comorbid disorders, behavioral issues, and learning/sensory disabilities (Gromisch,