Stimming = Physical Version of Laughing/Crying?

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I was trying to explain stimming to someone the other day and I found myself more or less describing it as a sort of physical version of laughing or crying. Laughter and crying are both forms of release, as is stimming . . . so it made sense to me.

Now all that's lacking is YOUR opinion.

Sort of...I would say to an NT who wanted to know, it's kind of like chewing your pen or tapping your foot. It's just something you do without thinking. I think everybody stims in some way, just Aspies and Auties need to do it more often to keep our minds awake.

I suppose you could argue that. I'd add on, though, that laughing and crying are things that you do when you feel those emotions (i.e. happy/sad/etc). Stimming you don't necessarily have to feel any particular emotion, I would guess, though I suppose you could say being upset or overwhelmed leads to stimming.

Interesting, LCH! As a theory it's very sound to be honest. I don't know about practice though, but then I'm not a good example because I do laugh and occasionally cry.

Agree with both the commonalities & differences between them. All are ways to regulate one's physiology, handle stress (however major or minor), release tension, reduce discomfort through a biological/physical process. One doesn't need to have reached point where one is even conscious of one's mood/state to have reaction, one tries to manage things before they reach crisis/extreme level (by which time it's much more difficult to calm/soothe oneself).

Laughing & crying may be easier for people to understand the importance/utility/function of, but all the little things people do are ways to take care of themselves in some way or other (according to each person's idea of what works/helps). I don't use the category "stimming", since I consider all people (not just those with a diagnosis) to have behaviors that could be called that. Any action, thought, feeling could be labeled as such, but these strike me as artificial distinctions. In a way, all these daily or mundane processes (whether nail-biting or having a good cry) are chronic care, which is way to try to prevent need for acute care-makes sense to me.