Body rocking

[Pauledh]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone could help me figure out something... Up until about 4 years ago I would body-rock. Im now 34, from the age of I realy dont know when... since my memory started at the age of say 2 i would body rock. I'd lie on the floor and rock for between a few minutes up to 6 hours or more. I'd rock on the floor and day dream and it seems that the rocking motion would help me day dream and I'd end up in almost in a trance. It completly messed up my education... instead of studying I'd body rock and dream whenever possible.... I mean I was totaly addicted to it, it may seam strange but it got worse from childhood. Im my teens and twenties i spent most of my spare time doing this, once I got to the age to start listening to music I'd body rock with music playing, with the different type of music depending one what i wanded to dream about or vice versa. It could be for the whole weekend and I've lost so much my life doing this.... You would'nt believe. I don't believe I'm autistic... i dont seem to show any other signs... I have a good career now and live a happy life but I'd like to understand what happened to me for all those years.

I'm not entirely sure this is the right forum, maybe it should be mental health but if anyone could help me understand I would much appreciatre your thoughts! If not i will try the other forums. Thanks for your time

[Nickerbe23]

If you have had a trauma like I did. You may do this I was abandoned and left in an orphanage for the first 3 and a half years. Sense that I have rocked my self to sleep and during the day I am almost 20 and still do this.

[AllBahianGirl]

Dr.Eli Somer a therapist in Haufa,Israel coined this body rocking Maladaptive Daydreaming in 2002. Dr.Somer basically deals with childhood trauma and noticed this behavior in many of his patients though it's not to say that everybody who does this maladpative daydreaming had a traumatic or abusive childhood. I am 57 and have done this my whole life to music. I'll sit on the couch bouncing with my headphones and listen to music for hours on end. My doctor prescribed Gabapentin for me and it does the trick unless I use medical marijuana which is legal in California where I live. It's something about marijuana that overrides the Gabapentin and I'm back on the couch with my headphones plugged into my cellphone ricking and listen to music fantasing about being a very rock star and the center of attention. I also feel that at 57 there are a lot of doors closed to me now unlike with a younger person so I feel the only way I'm going to have a certain life is to bodyrock to music on the couch and then go into a trace and image my life differently. This forum has really opened my eyes and I'm glad to know I'm not the only maladaptive daydreamer out there. We usually don't know about each other because we like to do our body rocking in private. Of course I think the psychologist is going to have the best answers for you. We are not doctors!

[Hcarlyle]

So grateful I found this post. I am reading Elizabeth Vargas book about her anxiety and alcoholism and it made me think about my high anxiety and how I rocked away that anxiety for 21 years. Like some of the other posts, I did it usually to music sometimes for hours or entire days and usually fantasizing about being famous or the center of attention. I finally stopped the year I graduated from college and had to share an apartment. I was always so afraid of being discovered and so really ashamed of the bevavior. In hindsight I don't know how I kept at it so long and I cringe thinking of the time j wasted. Anyway I do take Celexa for anxiety. Thanks everyone for sharing. It is a huge relief even now (I am 55) to know I wasn't the only person doing this

[Harleyrychick]

I rock back and forth all the time. I think it could be anexiety, ADD or ADHD. Not sure why. I saw my cousin the other day and we were both doing it. Sometimes I don't realize that I am doing it until someone says something to me.

[Melzzzzzz]

I can't believe someone else does this too!! I've been doing it my whole life!! Mostly fantasizing about being someone else and living a whole different way!! While listening to music..it's a form of meditation for me.. And when someone sees you or talks about it it's embarrassing.. Thank you for this post!

[MaggieandHopey]

I'm amazed how many people are rockers! I thought it was my shameful habit until I read the essay "Plague of Tics" by David Sedaris in his book "Naked." I recommend it anyone with OCD who does or doesn't rock. Sedaris had  major OCD kick-in during grade school, accompanied by a habit of rocking/listening to music. I was so amazed to read this, because I thought I was the only person in the world who had done this! My OCD began around second grade (I am now 46) and I rocked since about age three. I would rock in the car to music, thoroughly enjoying myself! I didn't care if anyone saw me, I was a baby! Later, in grade school, I began listening to little transistor radio at night and I'd rock in bed and fall asleep that way. I kept rocking throughout adolescence, high school and into my 20's (in bed and sitting up). I have to say, as I got older, I felt ashamed and more bothered by this habit. It was really comforting to me, but I also felt (even then) I was wasting hours and hours day dreaming and matting one side of my hair! My rocking went from being something to help me fall asleep to something I did for hours in the middle of the day. My family was very messed up- alcoholic father, work addicted mother, troubled (drugs/alcohol) older brothers....

The reason I eventually stopped rocking was because it actually started to bother me physically in my late 20's- I got a kind of cramp or stitch in my side, and I worried that I was injuring myself! so eventually I just stopped doing it.

I feel that, especially during high school, rocking was a way of comforting myself and a kind of intense escapism. I would fantasize about being a rock star, beautiful, etc. I loved it when my parents would go out- I'd listen to entire records rocking on the couch with the lights out! The older I got, I worked at becoming healthier emotionally and the need to escape into fantasy became less necessary (like in the movie "Muriel's Wedding" when she says she doesn't have to listen to ABBA anymore because her life is as good as an ABBA song). In fact, fantasizing became boring.

My advice is to work at your inner life because you deserve to be happy! Someone posted that they fell in love and that cured their rocking; that's great, but I don't advise ever relying on anyone else for your well-being, it has to come from within. I still rock on my chair when I'm reading or looking at the computer! I also love the swing we have on the deck and rocking chairs because I still find
rocking soothing. I walk a lot- that is a great alternative and super healthy, too. I hope others will try doing the inner emotional work on their own or with a counselor before resorting to medication. I have no doubt that some people need meds if they have a very severe OCD and I don't question that, but I hope it is a last resort. As someone with generalized anxiety and OCD, I know it is a huge struggle, but the work to feel better will pay off. You owe it to yourself.

This book has really helped me, so I'm going to endorse it. I warn you, it is work to follow the advice, but it seems to help!

https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Obsessing-Overcome-Obsessions-Compulsions/dp/0553381172

[Pulcetta]

I'm 32 years old and i've body rocked since i was a child!!! I always been a kinda lonely kid.. During teenage years i was very depressed and anxious and i used to body rock for hours non stop.. I would listen to music on the couch and daydream of being a famous singer or a person everybody loved, it was like in a sort  of trance. After i finished school i started working so i didnt have much free time and kept body rocking  maybe one hour in the evening... At first it was a little strange because  it was still a soothing movement but i lost the 'trance' ability.. And also the daydreaming was less maladaptive, i started dreaming of more realistic scenarios... Now i body rock about half an hour in the evening. I m glad i found this post, thanks everybody for sharing!

[SDusk]

Wow. Im amazed of all the stories that sound exactly like my life. So thankful for all your honesty and bravery. Ever since I can remember I felt different. Whew, I got to just take it in. Thank you.

[Eaglerock]

Looking for fellow rocker to partner for life I am in my thirties

[AL0107]

I am amazed!!!! I have been rocking since an infant, on my hands and knees and now in the sitting position. I am 60 yrs old! I also can't seem to sit or stand still. I thought I was the only one and have been trying to figure out why I do it as I don't think I can stop. I also have broken many couches and chairs. I'm sick of it but it makes me feel better. Does anyone know what the diagnosis is and if there is a cure? Wasted a lot of time.

[AllBahianGirl]

Dr.Eli Somer coined the term "Maladaptive Daydreaming" as the name for this disorder. Dr.Somer is a therapist that deals with trauma and he noticed this behavior in a lot of his adult patients. Don't want to throw parents under the bus and accuse the maladaptive daydreaming as being the result of bad parenting or an abusive childhood.