I don't stim alot I think. I think I might unconsciously do so sometimes, but if I decide to do it consciously it definitely doesn't have any effect. At least it is like that when I realize I have begun something stim-like I can't recall I have begun it.
Most if not all of them are conscious for me, at least at the age of 25. I don't think I stim that much anymore, to begin with. But I am certain I did a lot of these things all through grade school and high school as well. It seemed to drop off after age 19 or 20.
I think I got "stim-less" because I worry a lot about what others think of me, so I eventually became very restrained, despite still displaying odd mannerisms among people I am comfortable with.
when :let see lot of times mostly at school
Why: lots of reason, but yes it feels nice
how: most ly natural response i feel sortof empty when ordered to stop becuase i risk breaking somthing on my mother pretty things shelf
what sorts rapid vibration of my left leg, it hereidatery my not aspies sibs do it to and my susected aspie as well.
as to the stress or excitment thing: excitment is stress, just a differant kind
Good one!
What stims do you have, erkolos?
Good one!
What stims do you have, erkolos?
I tap my fingers and foot when there's alot of noise in the classroom.
Something tells me that I should stim more, one reason is because I want to be aspie but have a doubt if I really am. The other thing is that I feel constantly mentally exhausted without really knowing why.
I just realized I have and (have had) a lot more stims than I once thought. It seems like when I remember a stim I had in the past and do it again for a moment, it's almost like it's "restarted" so I have to make sure I don't do it much.. or else it will occur more often.
I used to stare at things (and people) for no good reason a LOT when I was younger, I used to curl my toes in odd ways (I still do sometimes), if cracking knuckles counts then I have always had that (and still do), and recently I've been "writing words in the air with my fingers" or writing them on my hand, or another object.
Perhaps I do have a lot of stims, it's just that I suppress them in public and also, I'm not even aware of them all!
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...
These days, I mostly shake a foot very fast at the ankle, twitch legs mostly below the knee, wring hands,flick fingers and toes, make waves through fingers, mostly stuff that can be concealed under a desk. I might also roll my head a bit.
There's one I had as a kid that certainly wasn't so good. (We're talking about more than 20 years ago.) I had a nasty head-thrashing (just in the air, not slamming into stuff) habit that looked kind of like what heavy metal fans used to do when they listened to their music. I had some bizarre desire to make myself dizzy. Someone would tell me to quit and (thinking, "mind your own business") it just made me want to do it more. I am very glad to have gotten rid of that one, thank god, because it got me some very strange looks. Having read here and elsewhere about AS, I've been trying to think of ways to gain control of that, for anyone who might be doing it now and trying to quit. Untested (No! I am not going to start doing it again just to test countermeasures.), but what I've thought of includes holding hands behind head, fingers interlaced, to put some light pressure in the back of the head and limit motion. Also, maybe balancing an object (such as an unopened bag of rice) atop the head. The countermeasures would have to be voluntary, not forced. Anyone else ever dealt with that one?
Well, I understand that. But it's also something that you can start doing without realizing it - so without control.
But a compulsion is something you tend to be aware of more than a stim. A stim can be unconscious but a compulsion by definition implies that you feel the urge to do something and that you are aware of the "need" to do these compulsive actions.
... but then again, maybe that's the difference. I feel like I HAVE to do those things. I am COMPELLED to do them, overwhelmed by the anxiety I feel sometimes if I'm not doing them. It helps me shut down my mind. ??
That sounds like classic obsessive-compulsive behaviour to me.
I wonder if it is possible that something can be a stim at one time but a compulsion at another? It sounds like that is what you are experiencing, the same movement or action can be a stim sometimes, but other times it is an OCD thing (when you feel you HAVE to do it and develop strong anxiety when you don't).
(A tic on the other hand I would describe as an "impulsive compulsion" - it is similarly compulsive but the "decision" to do this action sneaks past your "inner censor". They are possible to curb for a while but much harder to control consciously than OCD compulsions are - even though you may find the OCD compulsions far more distressing)
A stim then might be something you just really like to do, but don't really "need" to do it (unlike a compulsion?)
If that's the case I have quite a few of those, although I have also had classic "tics" in the past, as well.
NyanChan:
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.
Pakrat:
I also used to press my fingers against my eyelids to see the strange colours.
OMG! I did all that, too. I still tap on stuff, but the making wavy lines on the retinas and the pressing on the eyelids, I used to do. I just hope I didn't do any permanent damage.
My grandparents used to have "whirligig chair", basically an armchair that rotates instead of reclines. I think I might have gotten that thing up to about 30 rpm once. When I stopped the chair and got out, man did that room spin! I vaguely recall, once, my cousins and I taking turns spinning each other in the chair.
It's bizarre topics like this. I go yep, yep, yep, nah, yep...the whole way through.
Definitely. I just started to realize what (and how much) would have to be called stimming when I was younger. At the moment I'm much quieter … what about rotating the mouse wheel even when no scrollbar is present?
I use to do that as well? Did anyone love to spin in compture chairs? Or spin in general. I seem to do that alot when I was really little.
I used to do that a lot when I was younger. I reckon i probably stopped around age 9 or 10, as I would get dizzy/nauseous easily, anyway.
In fact the more I think about my childhood, these days, the more unusual behavior(s) I am discovering. It seems I had some strange sensory experiences, also, when I was younger. I didn't know that there was anything odd about those experiences, then, but comparatively now (in hindsight) I suspect that there was/is.
I'd say most stims are harmless and shouldn't be stopped completely if they help one to relax. Maybe just go by an informal heirarchy of categories about where and when they're appropriate (e.g. any time, hide it under the desk, okay around other Aspies but not in front of NTs, only in private, never).
Now, about that last category, "never", which would include anything that is potentially harmful, such as head-thrashing or eye-pressing. The NT way of dealing with it is to yell out, "Hey! Stop that!", which makes the person doing it just want to do it more. I've already made a couple of suggestions on what to do about head-thrashing (though no one else has admitted to that whom I'm aware of). Maybe a simple visual distraction, lights and patterns included, could abate the eye-pressing. Any thoughts on the "never" category?
I might also mention that when I am pacing around inside my apartment, I catch myself doing bits and pieces of katas that I used to do when I studied karate. That suggests to me that martial arts might satisfy many of the same needs as stimming. (I sometimes wonder if we've each got a warrior deep down inside struggling to be free.)
If you're out in public and look for people doing it, you'll find it.
Lately, I've noticed alot of leg-bouncing, like today in a restaurant at lunchtime. Certainly not everyone doing it is Aspie. I noticed alot of it and other movements also at a sci-fi club's meeting. (Now that's a gathering that's more likely to have Aspies, but that doesn't mean anyone having tics is an Aspie.) Way back in high school (about two decades ago), everybody in the advanced classes was leg-bouncing.
I'm thinking that it's contagious. One person sees another doing it and subconsciously decides to imitate it, discovering that it helps vent off nervous energy. Maybe it originates with the Aspies in an area, but my guess is it can spread to just about anyone.
Thoughts on that?
^ Maybe it's a form of very subtle subconscious communication, like some anthropologists think yawns or laughing and their tendency to be "contagious" might be....
It seems like people do this sort of thing more often these days than they did when I was younger, but as a kid I was so oblivious to most of what went on socially/with other people around me, I can't be sure.
Maybe people in general are just more impatient than in the past?
(Stupid gadget-filled, racket-filled modern world....people expect to be entertained every second and if it doesn't happen they get angry....but that's a whole other rant.)
Today I caught myself doing a really weird stim, I think because I'm sort of worked-up and overwhelmed with finals and everything (almost done though). I was sitting at my desk rocking back and forth and saying "Why don't you have anything to drink? Choose one making you better feeling! Choose one making you better feeling!" over and over again. I was doing it for at least a few minutes before I realized what I was doing (and that my curtains were open, so people might have seen me).
The phrase I was saying was from Tom Green's Subway Monkey Hour, when he came across some sort of drink-vending machine which had that saying on it (it's called Engrish, one of my obsessions) and kept repeating what it said to people walking by. Here's a video of it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHjSj_nKTws
It was pretty weird, but I think I only stim like that when I'm stressed out.