How to Talk to Someone With Tourette Syndrome ft. Baylen Dupree

August 28, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Baylen Dupree was six or seven when the motor tics started—neck movements, a strange sensation in her legs that she couldn't stop. They faded, then returned around fifteen, just before COVID. By the time she was in her early twenties, she was having tic attacks that lasted two hours, smashing her head against the floor, stabbing herself with forks, once hitting her mother in the head with a frying pan. "Nobody ever saw how bad it actually got," she says. "Other than my family and Colin."

The conversation with Jefferson Fisher is not a clinical lecture. It is a practical guide built from lived experience: how to talk to someone with Tourette syndrome, how to be in relationship with them, and what the rest of us get wrong.

The only rule: pretend it didn't happen

The single most important thing you can do when someone with Tourette has a tic is to keep talking. Do not stop. Do not stare. Do not laugh unless they are laughing first. "The easiest way to approach somebody with Tourette is to pretend like it doesn't exist," Dupree says. "If you're talking as they tic, continue talking."

This is not dismissal. It is recognition that the tic is not the person. "That's not really them," Fisher says. "You are not the tics." Dupree agrees: "Perfectly said."

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What you'll learn

1 How to Talk to Someone With Tourette Syndrome ft. Baylen Dupree
2 (00:00) **Opening: Baylen's Relationship & Tic Attacks** - Baylen describes how her husband Colin responded when she said she preferred he not be in the room during tic attacks
3 (02:10) **What Tourette Actually Is and Isn't** - Baylen clarifies that tics are not thoughts, beliefs, or intentional statements about anyone
4 (03:28) **The Tourette Iceberg: Co-morbidities** - Tourette is hereditary but how it manifests isn't fully understood; the visible tics are just the tip of a much larger iceberg
5 (04:42) **The Right Way to Approach Someone With Tourette** - Jefferson asks for the single best communication approach for someone with Tourette
6 (07:28) **The Wrong Way to Approach Someone With Tourette** - Baylen shares harmful behaviors she's experienced from others
7 (11:40) **The Mental Energy of "Keeping It Together" in Public** - Baylen describes the constant vigilance required just to exist in public spaces

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Jefferson Fisher

Show Notes

*Note: there are unmuted curse words in today's episode*

Today, I sit down with Baylen Dupree for a conversation about Tourette syndrome, neurodivergence, and what good communication actually looks like when someone experiences the world differently than you do. Baylen opens up about the things people often misunderstand about Tourette’s, the communication challenges she’s had to navigate in relationships and everyday life, and what she wishes more people understood about interacting with someone who is neurodivergent. We also talk about conflict, overstimulation, speaking up for what you need, and how the people closest to you can learn to communicate with you better. This is a conversation about understanding people beyond what you see on the surface—and becoming a more thoughtful communicator in the process.

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