Coprolalia

Excerpt

Coprolalia comes from the greek "kopros," which means "dung, feces" and "lalein," which means "to babble." It's a tic-like occurrence that involves non-intentional obscene and socially inappropriate vocalizations. In 10-33% of cases, it may correlate with tic disorders, in particular with Tourette syndrome (also known as Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome). Gilles the la Tourette is believed to occur in approximately 1% of the population worldwide, in the range between 0.4% to 3.8%.

Coprolalia also occurs in patients with brain lesions, "senility" and in those with neurodegenerative and autoimmune disorders. It can also appear in association with seizure disorders, in ictal or post-ictal status.

There are also other vocal tic behaviors such as palilalia (involuntary repetition of words, phrases, or sentences), echolalia (repetition of another person's spoken words in a meaningless form), and klazomania (compulsive shouting) that can also be associated with coprolalia.[2]]

Coprolalia is the most common of the coprophenomena, which includes copropraxia (the urge to perform obscene gestures without control), mental coprolalia (obscenities thought obsessively), and coprographia (the urge to write down those expressions or obscenities).

There is very little information about coprolalia in the absence of Tourette syndrome. Therefore, much of the information known about coprolalia is in the context of Tourette's and occasionally other tic disorders.