Tourette Syndrome’s Coprolalia Explanation using Bipartite Graph Matching of Thoughts and Game Theoretic Model for Symptoms Minimisation

Abstract

Coprolalia is a symptom of Tourette’s syndrome, which is essentially involuntary cursing. The obscene words usually have a meaning, which is associated with offending social acquaintances often based on locality or sexuality. This results in a patient’s social isolation and increased anxiety. The patient finds herself stopping things that she would do in her everyday life. In this work, we aim to explain the Coprolalia symptom with the means of bipartite graph matching. We assume that the brain network performs some kind of rerouting of thoughts, which results in the association of normal thoughts with their matched obscene ones. With this we aim to decode the operation that results in Coprolalia, in order for the patient to be informed of this behaviour. Furthermore, we propose a game-theoretic model based on the Battle of the Sexes, which has two equilibria in the pure strategies, namely to jam the intrusive coprolalic thoughts or to pass through the brain. In this way, we provide a mechanism for the patient to stand in social activities, in which the symptoms are severe. Moreover, we align with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), with which intrusive thoughts pass through the brain with the aim of deteriorating.