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Coprolalia

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Corprolalia: What it is, and how it differs from ordinary 'swearing'

Coprolalia is a common symptom of Tourette's syndrome. Not all persons with Tourette's manifest coprolalia, and the estimated "frequency of coprolalia varies from study to study, but the symptom is present in less than half of U.S. patients. However, the frequency of 'mental' coprolalia (merely thinking of the obscene word or phrase) may be higher" (Kwak & Jankovic 2012). Coprolalia involves "excessive and uncontrollable use of foul or obscene language, including words related to feces (bowel waste)" (Definition of Coprolalia, 2012, Medicine Net). For most persons, swearing and using expletives is designed to communicate in an intentional fashion. The communication may be designed to shock, to horrify, or to be funny, but for someone with Tourette's the use of swearing is involuntary. The condition is "characterized by compulsive arm movements, facial tics, grunting, groaning and shouting" (Definition of coprolalia, 2012, Medicine Net).

Persons with Tourette's syndrome experience great shame at their involuntary speech. In contrast, someone who uses swearing in a deliberative fashion usually does not feel ashamed of what he or she is saying. Even if there is shame as well as a desire to shock, there is also a conscious, deliberate, willed quality to the strategic use of words deemed by society to be 'bad.' "When describing the distress caused by his severe coprolalia, one of our patients remarked that immediately after shouting an obscenity he reaches out with his hand in an attempt to 'catch the word and bring it back before others can hear it'" (Kwak & Jankovic 2012).

Of course, almost everyone has experienced involuntary swearing. We are nailing something together and accidentally hit our thumb and we swear. Or, we are speaking to someone who is rather prudish, and we are so accustomed to occasionally drop an 'f-bomb,' before we can help it, the word passes from our lips. Corprolalia is far different, however, and is an involuntary action of the sufferer. "Persons who swear excessively, repeatedly and deliberately -- that is, they swear because they want to --are not technically sufferers of coprolalia, although some writers may wish to apply the term loosely to them" (Definition of coprolalia, 2012, Medicine Net). There is a distinct difference in the sensation between a tic and ordinary, garden-variety swearing. "One way to check whether an action is a tic or not is to apply the 'try to suppress it' test. If suppressing it leads to agitation, eventually doing the act or another similar act…it is most likely a tic" (FAQs Tourette's syndrome, n.d.). Unlike the desire to swear or even the excited, seemingly involuntary utterance of swearing, the mood to do so does not pass for a Tourette's patient. Tourette's sufferers can suppress the tic, but they often report going into a 'tic-ing' frenzy, once they relax and come to a normal state.

This is because, in contrast to other forms of swearing, Tourette's is a neurological compulsion, rather than a psychological desire to communicate or an emotional, visceral reaction. It is part of the biological nature of the illness. "Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome (TS) is one of the most common neurological movement disorders of childhood onset, present in up to 3% of children. TS is characterized by motor and phonic tics that fluctuate in distribution, severity, and frequency, often exacerbated by anxiety and stress" (Kwak & Jankovic 2012). While we may all swear more frequently when 'stressed out,' "Tics are abrupt, brief, repetitive movements of one or more muscle groups, frequently preceded by an urge to move, stretch, or apply pressure on the affected area until it feels 'just right.' Although tics are classified as involuntary movements, many patients report that tics are voluntary motor responses to involuntary sensations" (Kwak & Jankovic 2012). Conscious, deliberate swearing is quite voluntary and done by a matter of design (whether one may agree with the swearer's motivation or not). In contrast, tics are involuntary, and while they may seem like compulsions that could have a psychological origin, they are entirely neurological in nature.

The neurological, unwilled nature of tics is further underlined by how drugs that block the neurotransmitter dopamine (neuroleptics) can have a profoundly helpful effect for sufferers In fact, before the development of drugs "for the treatment of motor tics in the 1960s, TS was considered a disorder of psychological origin" (Kwak & Jankovic 2012). In contrast, such dopamine-inhibiting drugs will have little effect upon conscious swearing or involuntary swearing. The biological nature of TS, despite the fact it can look like schizophrenia and create an impression of someone with a severe mental disorder highlights the extent to which 'appearances can be deceiving' regarding mental illness. This is not simply true of normal social interactions. "Coprolalia, perhaps one of the most recognizable and disabling symptoms of TS, often impairs normal socialization and sometimes even leads to trouble with the law" (Kwak & Jankovic 2012). It can make the sufferer virtually unemployable, even though he or she is otherwise a 'normal' and well-adjusted person.