Stims Getting Worse?

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Does anyone else here have stimming behaviors that have gotten more frequent and more obvious as they've gotten older? When i was a kid my stims were mostly just small things that weren't very noticeable. But as i get older they get more and more obvious. For example, i don't remember rocking back and forth much until i was about 13, and then it was mostly just when i was on the computer and i wouldn't do it much around other people(if i did, it would just be lightly rocking). It progressively got more pronounced, and now i do it anytime i'm sitting up straight in a chair, and have a hard time stopping myself for long even if i'm in public, so my stimming is very noticeable to others. This could be due to increased stress or something, or maybe as my life got less structured i'm making up for it, i don't know. It doesn't really bother me to be honest, it's just something that happens, but it does seem strange.. Most of what i hear is that people learn to control their stimming more as they get older, not that it gets worse.

I agree with the increased stress hypothesis you got there. Stims relieve stress, I really only find myself doing them when I'm under pressure.

As you get older, life naturally gets more complicated. more complicated=more stress.

You can get better at controlling them, sure, but you can only deny what your mind wants so long before it just becomes even more stressful.

I was about to say what Darkword said. Stims stem (haha...) from stress and anxiety, and you get more of that as you get older, so why shouldn't they get worse? At least that's been the case for me, too.

Happens to me too! When I was little, I did little stimming, however, now that I'm nearing 17, it's become more frequent and obvious, and still, I didn't know a name for it until now, that my parents suspected asperger's almost 1 year ago (when I turned 16.)

I'm glad you posted this! My rocking has gotten much worse than it was when I was a kid. But, I've also got alot of extra pressures on me that I didn't have before. So I totally subscribe to the increased stress theory.

My stims are worse, especially seam ripping, which is less noticeable now that I don't wear tshirts anymore. But is actually much much worse.

My main ones were jiggling the leg,
or jiggling the foot
rocking side to side while standing, just slightly as if swaying in the wind,
paceing the floors like a caged tiger, when I'm thinking or storming which is the same
picking fingernails, until they bled is my worst, toes too.
40+ years later
now jiggling is still there not as much,
picking nails not as bad,
Pacing like a tiger has increased slightly and now i might atcully place my feet like i am a bengle and clentch my teeth and snarl but its been a tough year.
I have no idea what other things I do unconciosly,
oh I will rub my head sore.