I have Tourette’s and one of the first things I found out once I was diagnosed was that playing chess for some reason stopped my tics. I remember after I would have a stressful day and I’d be screaming a lot (that was my only tic for a while after I was first diagnosed) my mum would always ask if I wanted to play chess, even though she was horrible at it.
But it’s not just chess, it’s whenever I’m focusing really hard, like on a test or if I’m extremely close to getting a personal best on a speedrun.
So why do my tics seem to stop or diminish a lot when I focus?
In: Biology
I don’t know specifically, but for a lot of mental illness type things they all get worse when you’re bored and when you’re anxious. Because these things usually come in packs, bored and anxious and depressive or stressful thoughts are always waiting on deck. But if you can distract yourself, you can calm yourself down and think about good things instead of stressful things, so the tics also calm down. I would think it has to do with absorption in the task, and probably if you’re frustrated it wouldn’t work so well if it breaks your focus enough or pushes you back into enough stress.
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