‘ASMR’ - or ‘Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response’ exploded in popularity a few years ago as the ASMR youtube channels emerged.

The YouTube videos do not trigger ASMR for me, unfortunately. However, it did bring the term to my attention, and when I read the wikipedia page something clicked - I finally had a term for a very strange sensation that I was never able to explain to others.

For me, this ASMR response is not something that I can reproduce on purpose. But the times that it happens it usually occurs when someone else asks me something. For example, during middleschool I remember that sometimes a friend would stand next to me and ask me for a pencil. As I would retrieve the pencil, I would get into this dissociated-like state that was very peaceful and tingly, and I would not want it to stop. I would be very slow in retrieving the pencil and pretending I was still looking for it - and then I would ask some question to try to make the interaction longer because it felt so interesting.

It still happens some times but is rare, and it occurs when I am busy in the office or the lab and someone comes and asks me something or for something while I am paying attention to something else. It is a very pleasurable state that is also very fragile - as if someone managed to scratch the perfect itchy spot in my brain for a moment. It is odd, and I think it fits the definition of ASMR perfectly.

The only other way that I feel a similar effect but not as strong effect is when am getting a haircut the hairdraisser is cutting the hair in the back of my neck with the tiny trimmer.

I am curious about other people’s experience with this phenomenon, because I have not found many people that can relate to my experience. Have you felt this? Do you know what your triggers are? Do the YouTube videos do it for you?