Chasing Tourette’s: Time, Freedom, and the Missing Self

With an MA in Philosophy and English Philology, as well as a PhD in History, Lisa Curtis-Wendlandt’s earlier publications have spanned such diverse topics as ancient Greek philosophy, Enlightenment women’s political thought, and colonial mission history. Following a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in Philosophy at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, Lisa left academia and founded her own coaching and consultancy firm. She recently returned to academic research as an Honorary Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, where she explores the existential dimensions of living with tic disorders and Tourette Syndrome by drawing on approaches ranging from philosophical phenomenology and phenomenological psychiatry to contemporary enactivist thought.

• Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Clock Time and Tic Nosology.- Chapter 3. Volition in the Ticcing Brain.- Chapter 4. Freedom in a Tourettic World.- Chapter 5. Agency and Ownership in Tic Disorders.- Chapter 6. Tics as Intentional Actions: A Revised Taxonomy.- Chapter 7. On Reflexes and Stimuli: Tics as Nonactions.- Chapter 8. ‘No ill will’: Ticcing on Moral Grounds.- Chapter 9. Conclusion: Beyond Causes and Cures.