What is Stimming and Why Do People Do It?

Stimming refers to self-stimulating behaviors, which include repetitive physical movements, sounds, words, or other actions. While these behaviors are common in all people to some degree, individuals with ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) tend to display more frequent and intense stimming behaviors due to their neurological differences.

Understanding Stimming in Autism

Stimming behaviors in autism serve a vital function of self-regulation. Since autistic brains tend to be more monotropic, meaning a focus on fewer things but with intense and often unignorable attention, stimming provides a consistent, predictable, and reliable input that helps them tune out overwhelming aspects of the environment. This makes it easier for them to manage sensory input and focus, rather than splitting their attention.

Stimming for ADHD

For individuals with ADHD, stimming has a dual purpose. It not only helps to keep the brain engaged to prevent spacing out and thoughts from wandering but also aids in managing impulsivity and patience levels. These behaviors are often referred to as fidgeting.

Types of Stimming Behaviors

Stimming behaviors can be divided into several categories:

Physical Stims

These involve physical movements:

Tiny movements like finger tapping, neck cracking, shoulder rolling, and leg bouncing. More noticeable actions such as pacing on the phone. Customary habits like 'cricketing' (a fold in the shirt that resembles a cricket).

Vocal Stims

These involve the use of the mouth, lips, or vocal cords:

Humming specific tunes or parts of songs. Rapid tongue rolling leading to beatboxing. Singing spontaneously due to satisfying melodies. Random whistling. Biting the lip or chewing on items like gum, pencils, and pens. Echolalia, where sounds or words are echoed back, though it's not a prevalent behavior for the author.

Auditory Stims

These involve sounds that either the individual creates or listens to:

Listening to the same song on repeat. Seeking constant background noise or music to cope with silence. Enjoying soothing sounds like cats purring. Typical music preferences that enhance chromesthesia, especially jazz, technical death metal, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt, and 80’s synthwave. Needing noise-canceling headphones in loud environments.

Visual Stims

These involve visual inputs:

Spinning objects, like ceiling fans or helicopters. Intense focus on rain. Staring at lights and drawing patterns with after-images. Replaying favorite movie scenes multiple times. Enjoying lava lamps.

Olfactory Stims

These involve smells:

Preference for fresh leather, whisky barrels, roses, lavender incense, pine trees, guitar polish, new electronics, and specific scents from natural products. Preference for incense over candles.

Tactile Stims

These involve touch:

Deep pressure from massage or hugs. Preference for soft objects like cats' fur, soft plushies, and warm plushies. Squeezing soft things and interest in snakeskin.

Self-Harming Stims

These are harmful stimming behaviors:

Hitting or throwing objects during a meltdown. Self-picking or biting the inside of the cheeks.

For all these behaviors, the goal should be to find safe alternatives that serve the same function but do not cause harm.

Understanding stimming and its purpose can help in creating a supportive environment, especially for individuals with ASD and ADHD. Recognizing these behaviors can lead to better strategies in managing and redirecting them to healthier outlets.

By acknowledging and accepting the nature of stimming, we can foster a more inclusive and empathetic society that respects individual differences in sensory processing and self-regulation.