stims

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Is liking to sit upside down whilst watching the TV considered as stimming?

I don't think that's stimming. The act of stimming is at least somewhat an involuntary movement; sitting upside down is totally voluntary.

I disagree that stimming is always involuntary as I am, have read about, and know of many people who stim voluntarily when feeling understimulated (or as I say 'not quite right') this is in the form of spinning, on a desk chair or just standing and spinning, for me. After I have done this I feel back to my 'normal' self.

I do all that as well. I spin in chairs, I rock, I spin things I don't think of it as "stimming." I think of it as not necessarily beyond one's control, but that it not totally voluntary at the beginning.

Perhaps others more knowledgeable could chime in.

Surely that is stimming as you do it self stimulate your body or your senses. I dont think it matters if its voluntary or involuntary

I never thought of this as stimming, but I love doing this too. I also like sitting with pillows balanced on my head, or a blanket pulled over my head like a hood.

I was mistakenly diagnosed as having chronic tics when I was little. Aside from being non-rhythmic, what I've been told is that tics are almost entirely involuntary. The afflicted can willfully delay them, but it usually results in a burst of repeating the tic later. Stims on the other hand are more about fulfilling a desired sensation for the sake of self-therapy. It probably feels like an involuntary response because we've done them so long and often that they're ingrained in our muscle memory. If true, that would mean the beginning is when stims are most voluntary. You can train yourself to replace a stim with another, but you can't do the same with a tic.

I can see hanging upside down as being a stim. Enjoying the feel of reversing the direction of gravity's effect on your body. I sometimes strike certain poses for a few minutes. I'm not certain I'd call it a stim, but I definitely wouldn't rule out the possibility.

I wouldn't call it stimming, but I'd call it an autistic behavior.

I used to sit upside down one the couch with my head hanging off to watch tv as a kid all the time. It was comforting to me. Maybe sensory seeking?

I wouldn't call it stimming either. "Stim" is a slang term for self stimulatory behaviors. They're basically repeatative movements that are self soothing.

I really think that stimming is voluntary. A person might not notice that they are stimming, but once they notice they can choose to stop stimming. I wonder if it sometimes feels involuntary when you want to stop stimming but it feels really hard because your body really needs some sort of input, but when you change to a different source of input like a weighted blanket you don't need to stim anymore. This is just my experience though.

Everything we see is projected on the retina upside down as the eye is a single lense. Therefore our brain constantly reverses the image for us to perceive it the 'right' way up. When you are watching upside down, the brain will drop the reversal saving you some processing. I wonder if you notice that?

I thought sitting upside down to watch TV was something all kids did at one time or another. I don't do it anymore but I used to on occasion.

Given that stimming is a colloquialism for "self-stimulatory behaviour", I'd say sitting upsidown qualifies, because you're stimulating your senses, in this case vision, proprioceptive, and vestibular. Stimming does not have to be involuntary, in fact, more often than not, it's deliberate. Almost all of my stims are conscious and deliberate, except for chewing. I've destroyed so many pens and pencils that I now keep gum and a rubber chewy tube in my bag to redirect my energy when I catch myself chewing things.

Differentiating between typical and autistic stimming can be difficult. I don't know how to, personally.

From a sensory regulation perspective, there is no difference between NT and autistic stimming. NTs click their pens, drum their fingers or tap their feet for the exact same reason that we flap, rock or spin; to gain pleasant sensory input and regulate our systems.

The difference lies in the intensity, and the specific types of stimming. NTs do not stim frequently or on a regular basis, because their nervous systems are generally properly aligned, and don't require much adjusting, just the minor tweak from time to time. They also do not stim as obviously or as "oddly" as we do, because their sensory systems don't require that much input; very small amounts will do. Part of this also comes from the fact that society has deemed things like rocking, flapping, spinning, humming, etc. to be odd or deviant, and NTs typically care more about how others see them than autistics do, as you would expect from an instinctively social species.

Our stimming is more frequent and more intense because our sensory systems require more constant maintenance; it's rare for us to get through a situation smoothly and comfortably, without our internal systems becoming misaligned. We also tend to stim in more obvious and "socially unacceptable" ways, because we get quite significantly misaligned, and it takes more intense input to correct the problem.