BuzzFeed Daily: This all feels very overwhelming and kind of unsolvable. And I guess it just comes with the territory of having new technology and slowly discovering its effect on humans. I think you touched on this a little bit before, but what were some of the most helpful things you learned in writing this piece?
JJ: Some of the doctors have said that just being able to tell these young people that they are in control of this and they can learn to sort of unlearn this behavior has been helpful to a lot of the patients. Some doctors have told me that, not always, but sometimes immediately patients, once they were given a firm diagnosis and told, “You know, we understand you’re not faking this, you’re not making this up, but you do have the ability to have some control over that” — that has really helped a lot of patients resolve the tics. Maintaining a normal routine was another thing that the doctor said is helpful, that a lot of times when these kids have tics and they have an episode at school, it can feel really embarrassing. It can be disturbing and stressful. And they might go to the nurse’s office and go home for the day. But having that disruption and those transitions can bring on tics. And so the better thing to do is just go about your daily life, maintain your routine, don’t have those disruptions and transitions if possible.