By Sofia Costello
An unusual outbreak of twitching disorder in upstate New York has been trending via social media, which experts have called a kind of subconscious mimicry.
The doctors treating the almost 20 teenagers with the disorder, are of the opinion that the symptoms may be spreading faster owing to the girls' use of Facebook and other means of social media.
Experts say that the issue at hand is a form of mass hysteria where an individual- generally a young woman- becomes ill during a period of stress, with which others in the same community, school or workplace following to show the same physical symptoms.
Several girls in the small town of LeRoy, NY, started complaining of involuntary facial and body twitching in 2011, which was similar to Tourette's syndrome. Ever since, a dozen girls over the age group of 13 to 18 years have been affected, and also a boy.
Dr Laszlo Mechtler, chief of neurology at the Dent Neurologic Institute, Buffalo, said that four new cases over the past week were presented for a total of 19 patients. MSNBC reports that a 36 year-old woman in the town was also suffering the same twitching.
Mechtler told Discovery News, "When one has a symptom, it can be reinforced and magnified with other individuals with similar symptoms. That's what's going on with these girls. They are in a segregated small rural town in New York state. They are a cohesive group. And this wildfire of symptoms takes control,."
Having treated about half of the patients, Mechtler said that some of the girls are best friends, while the others know each other from either the soccer team or cheerleading squad. Along with other doctors, he diagnosed the problem as psychogenic movement disorder, which is a form of conversion disorder.
This means that the brain is essentially subconsciously mimicking the twitching that's being felt by others. Although the precise neurologic pathway is not yet clear, researchers believe that stress and anxiety are the common denominators. Mechtler, however noted that the girls are not faking their twitching.
Several parents have rejected that diagnosis and seek to blame some kind of environmental toxin. They have even asked environmental activist Erin Brockovich to probe into a chemical spill in the town that took place over 40 years ago.
According to state health officials, the spill was cleaned up, and they claimed to have performed extensive testing for both chemicals and other toxins in the school. The girls were also tested for traces of chemicals by doctors, and the results were negative. A number of the teenagers posted videos of themselves on YouTube and their conditions on Facebook, asking people to help diagnose their condition.
Dr David G Lichter, a Neurology professor at the University of Buffalo, who has treated several patients, was astonished at how similar the ticks were after seeing the teenagers' videos last weekend.
"It's remarkable to see how one individual posts something, and then the next person posts something - not only are the movements bizarre and not consistent with known movement disorders, but it's the same kind of movements," said Lichter. "This mimicry goes on with Facebook or YouTube exposure. This is the modern way that symptomology could be spread."
The longer that parents wait to get their children treated- which is typically done via psychotherapy and medications to relieve stress or anxiety- the longer will the disorder last, he added, saying that some girls are already improving with the treatment.
