Mental repetition of phrases/words ?

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I'm glad I'm not the only one who has this. I tend to latch onto 'interesting' or unusual words or phrases, and then break them down into their individual letters, and into their syllables.

I've presumed it was my version of stimming, I'm lucky I can keep it inside my head, and it only tends to occupy my thoughts when I'm not concentrating on anything else.

I also get the same bits of music going over and over in my head. It's annoying when it's a rubbish song, so I try to overwrite it with a Bob Dylan song instead when this happens .

I do this unintentionally all the time. The phrases can be from a song or a conversation or from a book. I have trained myself not to say them out loud because that kind of locks them into place, if that makes sense, and it gets annoying. If I switch to another one sometimes it can help erase one that is bothering me. This is especially true with music. So I guess over the years I have not ever gotten rid of it but can control it a little.

For the past 5 weeks, the phrase "tighter than a turtle's pecker" has been going through my mind. A coworker said this after I showed him how tight the seal rings on some parts (transmission shafts) were becoming.

OMG yes. It drives me bonkers. It drives other people around me bonkers when it's 1-3 lines of a song that I keep humming... With that it's an easier fix though as I'll just over-listen to the song until it wipes from my mind. Sometimes thats the only way to ditch it.

I concur. Most of the time I'm repeating numeric sequences without stop. Occasionally there are phrases that repeat too. If I'm in a stressful encounter with something/someone I can be repeating very fast 1 2 3 4 5, 1 2 3 4 5, 1 2 3 4 5, 1 2 3 4 5 in my head until the stress stops.

Occasionally music gets stuck in a loop or more annoyingly catchphrases from adverts.

I also have this issue and agree with the "mental stimming" - reading this topic I actually wonder how this has been missed in the diagnosis criteria, I think it's probably just as significant as the physical stimming. I wonder if it develops in some of us because we are taught that most physical stimming is annoying/unacceptable to others. As an adult all of my stims are "invisible" to other people because they are either things I can do without anyone noticing or things going on in my head, because of the way people responded to the ones they could see.

I would really like for my "mental music stims" to be Chopin waltzes, but actually they are usually children's songs! They seem to be the songs I memorised in early childhood (I was good at that) which have stayed in my head ever since. I often find myself humming "The Grand Old Duke of York" or "How Much Is that Doggy In the Window" or "There Once Was A Windmill" without realising I'm doing it and it's a good thing I live alone because that kind of thing could get very embarrassing very quickly! I also have random little tunes which will repeat themselves which I think I made up. I often find myself humming those too. Actually, I guess humming is also one of my stims, but it's kind of only the result of the mental ones.

I do sometimes do it with phrases - often words or phrases will come into my head and I will find myself turning them over and over, especially if I'm not paying attention - but my repetition is most often musical.

I remember when I was a kid, especially when I was just going to sleep, I would hear lists numbers in my head going by very very fast. I tried to explain it to my mother and she had no idea what I meant. Perhaps that was the same thing, though I don't hear numbers any more.

That is the origin of my inward stimming. When I was around 5 years old I was picked on because I used to flap my arms up and down against my sides and one day I discovered I could substitute the physical stimming with mental stimming... counting or creating geometrical shapes in my mind.

This is almost constantly happening to me. For example, one day I was working on this Korean guy's account (I'm an accountant) and since then (about 2 weeks), I have been repeating his name over and over in my head and out loud when I'm alone. I really like the sound his name makes and it brings up beautiful abstract images in my head. All words and numbers evoke visual imagery from my brain.

I also do this with words that rhyme. I cannot tell you how many times I tell my cat that she's an "itty bitty pretty kitty" over and over. If she were human, she would have murdered me by now.

Sometimes the compulsion to say whatever is repeating in my mind out loud is very severe. So I have to consider things like, "If I say it, will my best friend think I'm bizarre?" Yes, I actually think it through! lol Luckily, she's got her own quirks and is a linguist (THANK GOD) so I can get away with it if it's a language thing.

I actually like this about myself. I guess because it's an extremely simplistic form of appreciation and even though I can rarely express myself using words, words on their own can make me joyous.

I think my OCD makes me do it. It can be very stressful to the point where my scalp and forehead start tingling. There are days when I start it right when I wake up till I go to bed. The whole day gets wasted in that way. I just can't stop it. I don't know if this is the same as what the OP (from long ago) and the others are describing.

I do this with sentences and names of songs.

I've done this my entire life. I repeat patterns of numbers, words, phrases, and/or tunes over and over in my head. When it's numbers and phrases I will accompany them with tunes. Sometimes I end up humming the tunes or singing the patterns out loud. And sometimes I actually take these patterns and write entire songs around them, but that happens at night/early morning when I'm trying to go to sleep.

It is definitely mental stimming for me, because it happens more when I'm experiencing sensory overload and it helps to calm me down.

As a kid I had a problem of repeating things in my head too. Also, I would often repeat the last word of any sentence that I would say, very quietly, over and over, just like an echo, under my breath. I made sure nobody would notice it, but I would do it. I don't remember what age or for how long it lasted.
I would also have screaming arguments in my brain that were plain terrible. I was yelling at such anger at myself for being/acting stupid/moron/(expletives). I couldn't shut it off and caused me great distress. I was very self-hating.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that does this. When I was little I used to spell out sentences in my head usually multiple times before I realized what I was doing. It was usually after stressful conversations so I really think it was a kind of mental stimming for me.

Now a days it's usually just repeating phrases or parts of a song until I realize I'm doing it and make myself stop. Though I have had whole songs stuck in my head for days at a time before. One time I had 'It sure is Monday' on repeat in my mind and when I started humming it on friday a couple of my co-workers started giving me odd looks.

i think i got the solution
i believe when we are stressed.. it happens more
1.do the things that interests you.. coz your brain starts probably makes more cells when you do more activities. & get dull if you are trapped in the same boring job. May be an hour a day/week but do it.
2. at wake up time ( don't think of any Works)
3. b4 going to sleep (30mins) don't think of any works.. by work i mean tension giving work
4a. as these sounds continue don't try to chop them.. rather let the word/sentence finish & then take your mind away & try it not to be started
eg if the word that continues in your mind is "olalaa i am going" instead of chopping it "olalaa i/" let it to finish "olaalaa i am going" & now deviate your attention & speak something with your self
4b. Ignore it! while the mind is repeating .. you may go on making your routine " i would be doing this & after that this & that"
5.Games , try to play mind games
6.Socialize. talk to people .. share your experiences (this would help you
a.recalling past experiences
b. making you more critical
c. improving your communicaiton.

AHHHH YES

I assume I do it in place of the palilalia I experienced as a child. I was always made fun of so much for it at home, I worked really hard at the start of middle school to stamp out the whispers.

Now I save them for alone time or conscious stimming

its more than likely Echolalia

i have had it my entire life, verbal Echolalia (of my own phrases) and mental Echolalia

usually people have it when there is a lack of understanding in the verbal communication

sometimes people use it as a way to calm down

in my case i use it to understand something,

very few times do i actually have control over it