Dealing with Tics at Work: How to Cope?

I’ve been working with my therapist on using competing actions. It’s not a suppression thing, so it’s not going to affect your mental health negatively or cause strong rebounds. One I’ve found for this super annoying—and painful—shoulder tic I have is massaging the muscle involved in the tic. It’s less obvious of a thing and just looks like your shoulder is aching at the time.

Hi! I can absolutely understand why this is stressful for you. The first thing I would say to do is talk to your boss or supervisor. Then you could tell some of your coworkers which could hopefully help ease you from trying to stifle the tics around them. One of my tics is where I punch my gut, so I understand where you're coming from. My classmates that I'm close with all know I have tics and they aren't even phased when I tic anymore! Sometimes when I have a funny tic, I've told them it's (mostly) okay to laugh and we can all laugh together. As long as they're not making fun of me. I know it can seem embarrassing, but there's nothing you can do about your tics! The sooner you embrace that, the easier it will be to get over the embarrassment. I'm thinking of you and hope this helps!

I have a feeling this wouldn't apply to many people with tics but for me if I feel a tic that I know could be harmful I try triggering and thinking about a less harmful one (like personally I resort to my eye roll or head jerking tic since they are easiest for me to trigger) I feel like thats normally for one off tics but taking breaks and maybe just talking to your boss might help ease them. Wishing you well

I had this same issue but ended up quitting bc how bad it got. The stress of the job was triggering the tic attacks more and more and the company would not be accommodating. They can’t fire you for your disability, if you haven’t disclosed your disability yet tho they can. See if they can be more accommodating possibly or better yet talk to your doctor about temporary disability. I had it to test out meds (said meds made me so out of it I was unable to work) but maybe you can get some time off with temp disability to help since it’s gotten so bad. I gave myself a concussion with these types of tics. Be safe ❤️

I step aside and take a break for a bit. It definitely helps if your boss knows so they can adjust according to your needs.

CBIT really helped me. I can now counteract tics at work when I need to without the same level of distress as regular suppression