Difference between Tics and Stimming

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Today I want to talk about tics versus stimming. What is the difference? • Merch: https://www.unalike-apparel.com/ • Sources: • • #BoneItch #Tourettes #Tourettes101 • **************** • Continue Watching: • Everything Tourette's Playlist: • Everything tourettes • Everything ADHD Playlist: • Everything ADHD • All the Trans stuff: • Trans stuff • • --- • Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boneitch?su... • Follow me on instagram: / bone.itch • • What are tics? • Let’s start with defining what tics and stims are. And let’s start with tics. • • Tics are involuntary sounds or movements. • • Tics are usually sudden, rapid, and repetitive. • • Tics can be simple or complex. • • Simple tics involve one muscle group, and complex tics involve more than one muscle group. • Even though tics are involuntary, people that have tics often feel an urge to tic. This urge to tic is called a premonition. And because of that we are often able to supress tics to some extent. Even though that can be quite exhausting. • When we then let out the tic we often feel a sense of relief. This is most likely because ticcing promotes a release of dopamine in the brain. • Tics can often be supressed for a little while, even though that can be very exhausting. • I made a video a while back about what tics feel like. I’ll link it in the card above. • Who has tics? • When talking about tics, most people immediately think about Tourette’s. Tourette’s syndrome is one of the tic disorders. And a tic disorder is a neurological disorder that causes tics. • There are also other tic disorders, but to not make this video too long I’m not going to go into detail about them. If you want to know more about the diagnostic criteria of the different tic disorders, check out the video I made about that, which will also be in the card. • Tic disorders are co-morbid disorders with Autism and ADHD. This means that a significant amount of people with a tic disorder also have a diagnosis of ADHD or Autism. • • What is stimming? • • Stimming stands for self-stimulation. • • It is often a form of self-soothing behaviour. • • It helps someone regulate stress and emotion. • Stimming is often connected to autism. But it also occurs in people with anxiety and ADHD. It is a coping strategy that helps someone cope with being overstimulated, or even under stimulated. It can also be to help someone communicate or to focus. • Many people engage in this type of self-soothing behaviour. Think of bouncing your leg or tapping your pen or fidgeting in some other way. • Stimming is often experienced as being enjoyable. This is most likely because it helps stimulate certain neurotransmitters in the brain that help regulate emotion, like dopamine and serotonin. • There are loads of different ways people can stim. The thing most people will be aware of is hand flapping or bouncing up and down. But it can also be any other repetitive sound or movement. • • Difference between stimming and tics • So when you look at these definitions, you can see a lot of overlap between tics and stimming. • Both can be any sound or movement, they can appear in people with very similar diagnoses, they give a sense of relief. So what’s the difference? • So even though a stim and a tic can look exactly the same, the difference lies in that stims are voluntary and tics aren’t. Now hold your horses, let’s nuance the word “voluntary”. • I understand that stimming is not completely voluntary. And ticcing can have an element of being voluntary. • However, the urge to tic is involuntary and cannot be suppressed forever. And even though someone may also feel an urge to stim, this urge is at least to some extend suppressible. Think of it as trying not to blink versus trying not to scratch a horrible itch. • The purpose of tics versus stims are also different: The tic itself is not self-soothing, even though it can feel nice to let out the tic. Whereas stims have a reason, they are a self-soothing behaviour, tics don’t have this type of purpose. They just… are. • If you both tic and stim, it can be difficult sometimes to know exactly which is which. And that is completely normal. Trying to analyse something you do almost unconsciously is very confusing. • However, if you stim, but wonder if some of these sounds and movements are actually tics, this might be something to discuss with your doctor. • In the end, these labels and diagnostic criteria are meant for medical professionals to better categorise and treat you. But I also know that it really helps to know what is really going on and what label fits you.

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