TL;DR: This documentary and its title are sensational and paint the relatively cut-and-dry, documented case of conversion disorder in Le Roy as mysterious and ominous.
While this is interesting and absolutely bizarre, I think referring to it as mass "Tourette Syndrome outbreak" is inaccurate and provides yet another source of misunderstanding for TS. I understand that the video needed a title, but this video is clearly sensationalized and trying to put a darker spin on the events.
The girls often complain that their tics are uncontrollable and involuntary. For clarity, this is not how TS functions. it's entirely voluntary, albeit driven by a strong urge (imagine an itch that could only be scratched via movement or vocalizations). Anyone with TS can attest to this.
these girls were dominated at times by whole body spasms. They also seemed to interchange regular vocal tics with genuine coprolalia (which is far more rare than TS alone), at times shouting actual words. TS manifests at a younger age, more often with males. Whatever their condition had been (assuming it was genuine), it definitely didn't seem like TS, for many reasons.
Meanwhile, I don't mean to belittle the town's plight, but the video definitely leaves me (a layman) with the impression that this was an obvious case of conversion disorder (mass hysteria).
hysteria, historically, affects women far more often than men, namely teenage girls.
the girls immediately began showcasing their symptoms on YouTube and social media, which saw a direct increase in the number and severity of cases.
No other demographic seemed vulnerable. Wouldn't environmental factors affects more townsfolk?
Every investigation, even by independent parties, revealed no correlation between environmental factors and the spasms.
The symptoms all but disappeared after they were treated for conversion disorder, along with the absence of media coverage.
medical authorities and all current official records explicitly state that this was conversion disorder.
Every source other than this video plainly states that this was conversion disorder. Maybe the initial girl did have a genuine physical affliction, but I think it's safe to say that the epidemic was neurological, subconscious mimicry. The symptoms were probably real to them, but the cause was imaginary.