I don't stim. Does stimming help?

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How would masturbating be consider as stimming when it has more to do with the release of sexual buildup with just about everyone that is sexually active whether they are on the Autism Spectrum or not?

Stimming for me is non sexual. Every chance I get I stim because of the soothing affect it has on me. If I didn't stim, I would be extremely irritable. Stimming is equivalent to a baby suckling on a binky.

To tell the difference: OCD rituals are things you do to relieve anxiety, often a specific worry. For example, you may check the door repeatedly to be sure you've locked it because you worry someone may break in.

Stimming is more undirected repetitive movement, that you do out of habit, because it is soothing, enjoyable, or helps you concentrate. It may be done in response to anxiety, but it's not a specific cleaning/checking/counting thing like OCD compulsions often are.

If you believe you may have OCD, I do think you should probably see a psychologist about it, because OCD can take up a lot of time and cause a lot of distress, and you shouldn't have to live with that. If you're spending significant amounts of time engaged in OCD-type rituals, you might want to check into the treatment options.

I gently rock side to side when I'm not paying attention or comfortable enough to do so, not sure if that's stimming but people don't really mention it unless I rock forwards and backwards which they think is more obvious.
I often tap or shake my legs or wring my hands or pick and my fingers or clothes. No one really cares about that but they think you're nervous.

I find sometimes knitting or crocheting can help. Maybe a small physical hobby can help. It might look very casual as a result, perhaps a little odd in some places but I have started doing it randomly and I haven't noticed any negative responses, only positive actually.

It definitly helps. I try to stop it a lot of times, but not I switched it to spinning my hair around a finger, it really helps me keep calm and concentrated. And also it looks pretty normal, as other have confirmed when I have told them about it.

I don't stim. And I am not that incredibly stressed out as I used to be, I couldn't have it like that anymore. Now I'm totally relaxed all the time, there isn't anything that can suprise me or that I don't understand, because using ~1000++ hours of thinking and finding out about those things has made me an expert. If there is anything, it can be explained out of anxiety/psychological, logical/normal reasons for stress and so on.

When I was a child I used to pull out my hair one strand at a time, and pick at my scalp (no lasting damage, luckily). I also used to squirm around all the time. Now I fiddle with whatever's in my hands and crack my knuckles, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I always feel tense and stressed out, and I can't concentrate unless I *am* fiddling with something. I certainly don't want to go back to pulling out my hair! Can you purposefully pick up a stim for relief?

Chances are that if you let yourself stim, it will just be something that comes naturally to you. Lots of my stims came naturally to me (they seemed to, anyway).

Here are some of my stims (not all of them good - the ones that I'd rather not have to do are starred *)

- Rocking (sometimes)

- Snuggling under this soft Cars blanket I have when I'm falling asleep and snuggling up against all these plushies I have in my bed

- Biting/picking at my skin and nails *

- Eating something sweet, crispy, salty, seasoned, or with a chewy texture

- Anything to do with my special interests

- Rubbing this section of my favorite dolphin plushie's tail with my thumb

- Listening to music on my MP3 player while dancing around my room while tossing a ball/rolled up sock around

- Drawing stuff

- This sort of "bouncing" thing I do when I'm laughing or reacting pleasantly to something I like...it's kind of like lurching backward; not exactly rocking but sort of.

- Pulling out my eyelash hairs *.....I don't think I have tricotollimania (sp?) or anything; it's just that my eyelashes are annoying cuz they stick together and make my eyes itch.

Stims I used to do when I was a kid before I was shamed out of them:

- Chewing on my hair

- Rocking back and forth in a kitchen chair very vigorously as I sat at the table drawing cartoons

- Sucking on my thumb/fingers

- Chewing on rubber pencil erasers and sometimes the metal parts, if they were "chewy"

....I probably would have benefitted from having some "chewelry" if they'd had it back then.

@Callista: I have never stimmed. I would know. Ergo, does that mean I'm not an aspie?

No, because there are 4 symptoms in the repetitive behavior part of the criteria, and you only need 2. Stimming was originally thought to not be present in people with Asperger's anyway. Hope this helps .

I don't have any repititive behaviour. However, I meet the DSM-lV criteria. Nothing in the DSM-IV about repitive behaviour.

@StampySquiddyFan: I meet 2,3 & 4 in the 'Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, as manifested by at least two of the following, currently or by history', section. But I don't meet 1.

Same here. I don't think my stimming interferes with my functioning, so I don't fit that part of the criteria.

However, if stimmimg, not recognising emotions in other people and being good at maths, were criteria for an Asperger's DX, I would be considered not to be an aspie.

Me neither! I'm terrible at maths . I can pick up on a lot of social cues now too. Just not when I was younger than 12.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... -in-girls/ - an interesting read.

Yeah. It's pretty interesting to see the differences between female and male autism.