For me I think that it is similar breathing, in that it just happens but you can control it if you want to. I think that they are a semi-conscious process.
I believe stims are used for many reasons, whether it be anxiety, excitement, concentration, relaxation, and many more. I stim alot but I am not always stressed.
It's my belief that the reason for stimming can vary from individual to individual.
I stim to relax when stressed, I stim to concentrate, I stim to 'zone out'... and probably some other reasons that aren't coming to me.
Giving myself some time to think about it, I also have different stims for these.
I feel that if I would get overly conscious about my tics & stims it would be to overwhelming. I am the only one that can control them and if I began to differentiate between things I would feel more torn apart than I already do.
What I do depend on where I am at the moment and if there is people about or not. When I go out I hum low some catchy tune that is easy to repeat over and over again - old jazz classics from the 30ies and 40ies.
My stims are similar to Bob's, except I guess they aren't as necessary as breathing. I consider them to be voluntary actions (meaning I can consciously start and stop doing them if I want to), but I also do it when I think a lot and don't actually realize I'm doing it.
I don't do this "stimming" thing or at least nothing that I notice.
Thanks for all the replies: the breathing analogy is particularly helpful. Sometimes I'll do certain things that I guess might be classed as stimming, but I wasn't sure whether it was a conscious decision or not. Often I don't notice that I'm jiggling my leg up and down until someone tells me to stop it. So I wasn't sure if that counted or not... but as far as I can work out from this thread, it does... which means I need to think
i stim when i get up in the morning
and sometime before bed
Hahaha, this made me spontaneously think of some Aspie verses of "Smoke Two Joints" by The Toyes...
I flap my hands in the morning
I flap my hands at night
I flap my hands in the afternoon
It makes me feel alright
I flap my hands in time of peace
And flap in time of war
I flap my hands before I flap my hands
And then I flap some more
I stim when I think, and I think a LOT. I don't decide to do it and I don't not decide to do it, at least not on a consious level. It is just something I do.
Luckily, my stimming is pretty subtle. I pace, I tap my finger tips together, and if I am standing I tend to shift my weight from leg to leg. I know other Aspies stim in much more obvious ways, like rocking and hand-flapping and kicking the floor with their toes when standing. In retrospect I did do more noticable things when I was young, but grew out of them.
It's kind of a habit. I wouldn't call it a compulsion because I can stop if I want to; only, it feels better to stim than not. It makes your stress level go down. And there are a lot of ways that aren't obvious to people watching you.
It's kind of a habit. I wouldn't call it a compulsion because I can stop if I want to; only, it feels better to stim than not. It makes your stress level go down. And there are a lot of ways that aren't obvious to people watching you.
What about "excessive sleeping" or taking long naps or more naps than is "normal" for a person... would that considered any kind of stim?
It certainly is a non-functional activity, and in some ways lowers stress level and helps one block out the environment, etc...
I do a lot of that when I'm feeling depressed, which is every few months or so.
Stims don't seem to rule my life in general though. The main ones I do are toe stretching, hitting my foot on a wall or chair if I'm sitting on something and finger sucking or knuckle chewing or hair stroking.
Finger clicking annoys me so much. It is the noise aspect. If it were silent, there would be no problem at all. Pen or pencil tapping is nearly as bad to me and I feel like shouting out "stop it!".
Well, my psychiatrist says her (college-age) Aspie son sleeps a lot when he's overstimulated. I sleep too much sometimes, myself, and it's her theory that I do it because I need to recover from stuff. She could be right... I don't know. Maybe I'm just a hypersomniac.
When I was a kid, I used to spin around at night so all the lights would look funny. I gave it up when I was about 7 or so.
Me too! Cool.
Or I used to wiggle my eyes around to burn wavy lines on the back of my retinas.
I also like to tap on things.
I also used to press my fingers against my eyelids to see the strange colours.
The problem with spinning is stopping...
hmm, i thought i posted in this thread.. wonder where the post went. ?.?