Stimming question??

Post Reply New Topic

Hey have a question if anyone could help me on this. Could doodling be a form of stimming? I ask because I am a hard core doodler and the doodles are always the same kind of thing. I take notes when I listen to people and doodle I have a hard time sitting still if I am not moving my hands. Never noticed it much until I was put in a situation where we are not allowed to doddle and not allowed to take notes while others are talking. I had a really really hard time with that and I'm wondering if it was because doodling helps calm me down. Other times I start shaking my leg up and down rapidly and don't even notice it until someone points it out. I pick at my fingers like crazy if I have nothing to do with my hands I pick at my fingers until the bleed and I don't even notice a lot of times till someone points it out or i see blood. Just wondering if these could be a form of stimming just not really the typical way people do it. I find if I am not doing something with my hands I have a hard time. I'm just wondering if there is something I could do that less obvious say for a group setting where people don't want you doodling soo I don't get overwhelmed.

I think doodling could be a stim (or at least a coping strategy when you can't stim, like how some people squeeze stress balls, or stroke plushy toys). I love the feeling you get using really nice pencils or pens – there's something very satisfying about them!

[EDIT:] Less obvious stims that I've developed include pressing my fingers against the desk and subtly making patterns (like typing or playing the piano) – but without really moving them enough to be noticed... Also I count my teeth with my tongue, and make patterns that way too.

It totally can be a form of stimming! Stimming comes in all different shapes and sizes. I doodle, too; mainly just lines and swirls, sometimes a bunch of squares. I personally try to make my doodles as neat and uniform as possible, since I like how they look that way, nice and organized.

A more discreet(I think) stim I do is twirl a rubber bracelet. I just make sure to keep a rubber wristband on me at all times, and I'll twist it and hold it in one hand while I write with the other. It's really helpful in places where I'm not able to do a different stim. It's also portable, and it's something you can have on you without it being obvious that it's a stim toy. Just make sure it's durable; I've broken a bunch of them.
I also play with the string on my hoodie, and click my teeth to the rhythm of songs.

Not really. I think stimming of moving hands/toes to reduce anxiety, like tapping and what not. I think stimming is done while attention is still focused on something else.

What you do is the same thing, something done to reduce anxiety, it just draws attention to itself - a distraction, if you will.

Another forum im on has an anxiety section.
Someone started a thread about ritualistic behavior and nervous ticks.
Some of the stuff written down by NT's were:

Whenever I get really nervous I'll either bite my nails, no matter how bitten and short they already are, I'll play with my hands, crack my knuckles, or lightly tap on things, or if I'm sitting I'll shake my legs, other things like that too.

Whenever I get social anxiety I get alot of tics/weird things.
The least worst is the simple stuff like general nervous movements, but I also bite my tongue and cheak and in a really serious way, I don't realize I'm doing it, and then I'm bleeding.

I bite my lips, tap things, click pens, twirl pencils, touch my face, cover my face with my hand. I also tap my feet and twist my ankle and stuff. I can't stay still.

Seems like there is a fine line between nervous tics and stimming.

For me personally doodling stimming would be; looking really close at where the pencil lead meets the paper and scribbling circles and just watching that process - while also taking in the sound of the pencil against the paper and the smell of the pencil... I used to do that lots. I remember one of my biggest meltdowns of all time was when a substitute teacher suddenly tried to force me to stop doing that.

Okay I'm confused now... If it's something that NTs do, then it's not technically a stim? So a true stim is only something that an NT would never think of doing?

Now I'm wondering which of my stims are not really stims?
- pacing for hours (and retreating into my mind)
- twirling my hair (because it calms me and helps me focus)
- making tapping patterns with my fingers (because it helps me focus)
- counting my teeth with my tongue (because... I've just always done it)
- sucking my thumb nonstop until I was 5 years old (because it was comforting and zoned me out)

The only one that I've never seen an NT do is the teeth-counting thing (then again, it's invisible, so how would I know?) I do all of these things constantly when I'm alone, but I'm careful not to in public. So are these 'tics' rather than 'stims', because NTs are known to do them as well?