Can a non autistic person have common autistic stims ?

For example tensing up and putting hands to mouth when excited or imagining something.

Absolutely..

I've seen many people without autism displaying a stimming type behaviour. It's also a bit linked to ADD and ADHD so if you have either of those then that could account for the stimming.

There's usually a diference between autistic and non autistic stimming though - people on the spectrum tend to stim in a stereotypical way (hand flapping, rocking etc)..

If you have any other symptoms of autism though, or the stimming bothers you (presumably for social reasons), then it's worth having a chat with your doc xx

seabreezeblue wrote:Absolutely..

I've seen many people without autism displaying a stimming type behaviour. It's also a bit linked to ADD and ADHD so if you have either of those then that could account for the stimming.

There's usually a diference between autistic and non autistic stimming though - people on the spectrum tend to stim in a stereotypical way (hand flapping, rocking etc)..

If you have any other symptoms of autism though, or the stimming bothers you (presumably for social reasons), then it's worth having a chat with your doc xx

Thanks for the reply, makes sense really, i have all the symptoms of inattentive ADD, and the stim I have i have complete control over, i control when i do it, and i don't do it much, I also have GAD but I think that comes from having an extremely tough childhood.

I'm guessing with autistic people they would do it more often and have less control over it?

you don't even necessarily need any form of mental illness or disability to be able to find comfort in stimming.


but it's often common in ASD, of course, but also cousins of it, ie ADHD, OCD, etc.

most people stim without realizing it. stimming can be something as simple as shaking your foot or fidgeting.

To the OP - yes they can, if you've bitten your nails or fidgeted before - then you've stimmed, so going off that it's pretty clear that neurotypicals can stim too.

My stims are quite prominent right now; for whatever reason I've been doing it more often the past few days. Stims like hand-wringing, hair pulling, tapping etc. are the ones I have going on now.

I'm trying to control it around others, because truth be told it's just plain freaky when you see someone acting like that in public...