Hey guys so today what the question is, is rocking back and forth a sign of mental illness? One in five people will experience mental illness in their lifetime.
Is Rocking Back and Forth a Sign of Mental Illness?
People that rock back and forth don’t necessarily have a mental illness. In fact, a lot of them rock back and forth because, for one, it releases endorphins into your brain and it makes you feel good.
Number two, it’s called stimming, which is also referred to as self soothing. Stimming is very common with people that have autism, or they have Asperger’s.
I self diagnosed with Asperger’s just last year after rocking back and forth, for the last 46 years.
My mom said I started rocking back and forth when I was two. I don’t remember that I remember rocking back and forth when I was around eight, watching TV with my parents.
I don’t know why I started but I soon realized that I did it anytime I could. So there are two types of people, there’re people that are hyposensitive, they don’t produce enough dopamine or endorphins, so they rock back and forth to stimulate their minds and to create more dopamine.
Then there’s the hypersensitive that rock back and forth, because they want to soothe themselves, and I fall into that latter category. I grew up under a strict household. I believe that I was a hyper highly sensitive person, and my dad was rather strict.
I was also very shy, introverted. Later, like I said, was self diagnosed with Asperger’s so my environment greatly affected me. I was very sensitive to the sights, smells, and my unique interest signifying that I like the smell of gasoline and diesel exhaust and I liked rocking back and forth and listening to music, I still love music today.
I listened to my sister’s music and my dad’s music. You know I was constantly rocking back and forth, wearing headphones until the point where my ears were ringing at the end of the day, because I just was blaring music all day long.
So rocking for me was definitely stimulating, which is self soothing, And it was to relax me and keep me calm because I was a nervous person. I have a lot of anxiety.
I was constantly tapping on things, humming, whistling, listening to music and then I got into drugs and alcohol, it seems like my whole life I’ve been running from something deep down, and I don’t know what it is sometimes.
I think, like I said, my dad was strict, and he spanked me but I don’t remember any other traumas in my life, and stimming isn’t really that taboo in our society.
Stimming could be something as simple as biting on your nails or twirling our hair or moving back and forth a little in line, you know, waiting for something – even elephants rock back and forth a little they sway back and forth and it’s just to reduce stress, you know, elephants are very sensitive, they’re very intelligent, maybe they don’t like sitting in a confined area.
My fiance and I actually saw an elephant swaying at the zoo one time, and it was just a gentle little sway. If you’ve ever sat in a rocking chair you understand the feeling of how it’s kind of calming and for me rocking back and forth, it makes me feel like I’m free.
It feels like I’m moving – it feels like I’m going places and I can daydream, that frees up my thoughts, I can think about things that I can’t really think about when I’m sitting still, when I’m sitting still I feel stifled I feel stagnant and possibly I’m afraid of these deep emotions to come up from that, from my past.
I don’t even know what those would be, but a lot of people don’t want to face their feelings, so they do anything to distract themselves from those feelings.
But I’m telling you that the best thing you can do to finally heal those inner traumas that are making you use drugs and alcohol and rock back and forth, is to actually confront those uncomfortable feelings and let them surface and cry about them. Seek therapy, do CBT, inner child work and hypnosis.
Self confidence hypnosis has helped a lot because inner child work really helps me, where I go back to the earliest childhood traumas that I remember as an adult, and soothe myself and give myself a hug, that kind of rewires those memories and makes them a lot more tolerable.
There’s also Ho’oponopono, which is a thing that you can say, if you’re feeling stressed or if you want to soothe yourself you can say I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.
And that came from a Hawaiian doctor who worked at a psychiatric ward, and he said that when he was looking at Case Files of all of his clients. And after doing that for two years, the hospital was basically empty because almost everyone healed from just him doing that, saying that to his patients and not even to them directly, but just looking at their files.
So it’s all about vibrations and uplifting your spirits and healing the past, because using drinking and drugging, those are just band aids, Those aren’t the problems usually – it’s usually hidden trauma, inadequacy, low self esteem, you know, abuse, trauma, whatever.
And so that is it. I have Asperger’s, which is like high functioning autism, and I have always taken to music and I like aromas and art and literature and and rocking back and forth but alcohol and drugs really took me down and I almost died from them.
So I am very fortunate to be here but rocking back and forth is not really due to a mental illness. It’s a release mechanism for endorphins and dopamine, and it is also a thing to do to relax and to relieve stress.
Basically everything I have done in my life is to relieve some kind of stress, and a lot of those look like destructive coping mechanisms, there are healthier coping mechanisms out there, you can take up journaling, writing, painting, even start jogging and walking, that will release a lot of pent up aggression and adrenaline.
You can join a gym and then you can do sauna after your workout, sauna is a tremendous relief from stress and any excess anxiety. So look into those things. I hope you find some value out of this video, hit that subscribe button if you’re new here, and thanks for watching guys.
