The razor-thin line between contagion and connection | Dan Taberski

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After a mysterious wave of tics and twitches swept through a small-town high school in New York, documentary podcaster Dan Taberski set out to investigate what was really happening. Drawing on extensive research and intimate interviews with the people involved, he explores the roots of mass hysteria — and what it reveals about the line between illness and belonging. What happens when the very thing that makes us sick ... is also what connects us?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark
0:11.5	your curiosity every day.
0:13.3	I'm your host, Elise Hugh.
0:15.5	Today we start with a fascinating story about a group of high school girls in Leroy, New
0:20.6	York, who in 2011 all suddenly
0:23.3	developed ticks, like those present with Tourette syndrome. In his talk, documentary podcaster
0:30.0	Dan Tversky shares his findings after investigating this case for the award-winning podcast,
0:35.5	hysterical, exploring what this disorder reveals about the power of stress and trauma, and why the
0:41.7	notion of mass hysteria isn't just for the history books.
0:45.5	It still happens.
0:47.0	Please note that this episode contains mature language.
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