Genius Academy Mental Health Library
Meet Carl
Carl lives with grandmother after being abandoned by his mother when he was seven. But even before his mother left, at the age of four, his grandmother started noticing that Carl blinked a lot. He also made jerky movements with his head or his shoulder. She took him to the doctor but even though he had been an underweight baby and his mother a heavy smoker, there was nothing physically wrong. She noticed if he got upset or worried his tics became worse but she decided he was just a nervous child and would likely grow out of it. The other kids at school made fun of him and that was hard. But then the bad words started coming--blurted out in the middle of a sentence out of nowhere. She thought it was the bad influence of those terrible kids, but Carl has told her no. He can’t help it. This video takes viewers directly into Carl's struggles and the frustration that grows from them. Through the use of flashbacks and additional footage from his life outside of therapy, the viewer is able to understand how this condition is impacting him. He doesn’t know why this happens. He just wants to stay relaxed inside, like he's been told, but it's impossible.
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