Abstract

This paper advances recent efforts to re-integrate Tourette Syndrome (TS) with phenomenological psychiatry by centring discussions on the ticcing person as an agent interacting with her world. To achieve this, I will draw on a concept which rarely appears in the literature on tic disorders, but which is central to phenomenological psychiatry: the self and, more specifically, the notion of agency. First, I will present emerging experimental evidence for altered agency dynamics in TS, as expressed by both heightened attributions of agency (AA) and a weakened pre-reflective sense of agency (SA). I will explore possible explanations for these agency dynamics by drawing on contemporary neuroscientific experiments on perception–action binding in TS and suggest that there is a person-level “phenomenological correlate” to the strong binding effect observed between perception and action in the experimental literature. Next, I will ask how hypo-SA and hyper-AA may be interrelated, and what other factors might influence agency dynamics in TS. In conclusion, I call for more nuanced phenomenological research into Tourettic experiences of agency and their implications and opportunities for research and care.