Define "Aspergers obsessions" please

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I ask because during my assessment for Aspergers, they wrote in the conclusion that I had no obsession with any special interest/topic. And it seems that was a big part of their decision to not diagnose me with Aspergers.

How do you define an obsession?

I feel that spending 8-14 hours a day with one narrow interest should count, but somehow they felt me sitting at a computer that much wasn't an obsession in the Asperger-sense. They just recommended I spend less time infront of a computerscreen.

Playing World of Warcraft the last 7 years, always declining invitations to try other games, and when not playing the game, doing research on how to play it better...is not an obsession? I have 10x lvl85 and 1x lvl90 (10 characters was maximum allowed on one realm and level 85 was maximum, up until 1 month ago), is that not proof enough? I don't get it. Is it because I had a 5-6 months "break" from my obsession when I obsessed about something else? Is it because sometimes, once or twice a year, I obsess about webprogramming project for 3-5 weeks ending up never completing it? I am at a loss here, I don't really know what to think anymore. Using the fact that I do not obsess about things as a reason for not setting an Asperger diagnosis when I clearly do obsess, does not make sense to me.

Well, to use their exact words, they didn't use "obsession". They wrote "we can't see any monomaniacal behaviour".
definition of monomania (link)

So I ask again, how do you define obsessions? And do you agree that my obsession fall into that category?

An obsession is something that you'd typically get so absorbed in for hours and not focus on anything else. Your liking of WoW is definitely obsession and you should use that as an obsession. If you spend all these hours on it and you research it a lot, and you don't focus on other games, it is an obsession.

Hope that helps!

Did you tell them the extreme amount of time you spend with World Of Warcraft? I think a special interest is something you engage in often to the detriment of other duties. Some people, fir instance, are so caught up in their interests, that they neglect to eat, pay the rent or other bills on time, don't go out to meet people, go food shopping in a timely manner, walk the dog as often as they should, etc.

Hey, if they say you're not on the spectrum, maybe you should be celebrating instead of lamenting. Some people despise being on the spectrum because they feel it holds them back in life. I guess I'd probably prefer to be like normal people - married with children and gainfully employed with a car and house in the suburbs, but I know I would fail miserably at such an attempt. It just ain't me and it ain't gonna happen.

It does thanks


I did tell them 8-9 hours on average each day, my wife told them a higher number, so ye, they should know. My wife is thinking that they may have misunderstood what I do at the computer. Perhaps they think I surf the web, watch funny videos, check facebook/email and God knows what other "normal" computer geeks do. I scheduled a meeting with them to elaborate on these things, so I will see how that turns out in a few days.

After many years of trying to understand why I am like I am, and after getting all those eureka moments while reading about Aspergers, together with the fact that it would be so much easier to be understood by the government with an actual diagnosis, I feel I'm better off with diagnosis than without. I know some people wish they didn't have Aspergers, and I can relate. But thats not the same thing as not having an Asperger diagnosis. If I have Aspergers, and they do not give me a diagnosis, thats much worse than not having Aspergers, atleast to me.

Thanks for the replies so far. I am wondering if I should just show them this forumpost tomorrow, to make them understand better. I am not good with the spoken word.

They might be thinking its an addiction rather than an obsession.

On addiction vs. aspie obsession... Have you almost always had an obsession with something, even before WoW was around? If it was an addiction, it would be kind of a one time thing, and you likely wouldn't have had other obsessions before becoming "addicted" to this.. With aspie obsessions, perseveration is just our brain's natural way of functioning, so you would have had some obsession (maybe with different things, but it's always something) at basically any given point in your life. Before you were into WoW, did you have other obsessions?

And, actually, the criteria don't say that you HAVE to have a special interest, if you meet another criteria in the repetitive category. Special interests are usual in people with ASDs, and with AS in particular it is seen as one of the major symptoms, but it's still not required. Stimming, routines and rituals, and focus on parts of objects are also in that category, and you only really need one for a DSM diagnosis (although, i think it's probably kind of rare to just have one).

There should be a pattern of special interests that has existed throughout your life. For example, I have been into cars since I was probably 2 years old. It was all I would talk about and all I would think about for the first twenty years or so of my life. Even now, I still love to play with cars and study them, the math involved, etc. I still enjoy them, but I also obsess over other things now that I am an adult. Right now, I have very little money coming in so I have to force myself not to do any car projects. Thus, I am obsessing over Asperger's in general and posting on Wrong Planet in particular.

Ye, during my childhood, I was VERY into Donald Duck from age ~6 to ~14, infact I still dig up, from memory, information from those stories that I can use in daily life. Fun facts etc. Those disney stories, especially the historical adventures of Scrooge McDuck, are actually very fact-based. I collected pocket-books, the weekly magazines, stickers, you name it. Every week when I had to clean up my room, there were 3 things to sort. Take dishes up to the kitchen, throw laundry in the hamper, and sort my Donald magazines that were spread all over the room. Thats how I remember it. And while sorting the magazines, I usually spent hours reading before I had finally put it all back in place, even if I had just read it. Was really hard to pick up a magazine without looking through it.

I were also VERY into magic. I had 6-8 different childrens magic set, multiple books and at one point an offer to join a magic act. I think that was roughly from age 9 to 15.

In my more recent days, I've been VERY into tv-series. Roughly from age 19 to 32. I could, while still single, hold marathons by my self, watching e.g. Buffy the Vampire Slayer 3-4 seasons all in one sitting, with only 4-5 hours of sleep in between when strictly needed. These days this has changed somewhat, but I still watch 1-3 episodes each day of one of the 20-25 series I follow. This is usually my way of getting relaxed enough to go to sleep.


Perseveration.. exactly. I often, especially while doing research on a topic, have to read every page I have opened in my webbrowser, even if I found the information I were seeking on a previous page. I noticed this really well while obsessing over Aspergers. I can continue reading about a topic even when my head hurts and I sit uncomfortably, I just have to finish reading all the websites I have opened in my browser. If I do not manage to read it all before I am exhausted, I have to save all those sites to my favourites. Distinguishing relevant information from irrelevant is very hard for me while researching, so I need to read it all first. After all, how will I know whats relevant unless I read it first, right?

While doing my obsessions, I feel.. or well, rather don't feel as tense. I wouldn't say it relaxes me, but more of an unknown itch in need of scratching that comforts me in some way. I am not tense or agitated while doing my thing, but still not completely relaxed. Its more a way of perserving energy and closing my mind to the world, while at the same time its still being really interesting to me. I know this sounds like an addiction, and I am not a stranger to that thought, I just feel that on top of every other symptom I show, it points more to Aspergers than an addiction.

I do have my routines and rituals aswell, but I am not assessed under DSM, my country use ICD.

I can see a pattern, and I have listed it for those who assessed me, but I think perhaps I were too vague in describing the extent of my obsessions. At one point at the age of 16, I collected Kinder-egg figurines, and one of my first real girlfriends in youth/young adulthood dumped me after 2 weeks of going steady because I "cared more about my figurines than her", which in retrospect I can acknowledge as being accurate.

Who knows..perhaps I am just in one of the five stages of grief at the moment. I was expecting a diagnosis, and didn't get it. If its denial, anger or bargaining now, I do not know, but I kind of recognize all of the above.

Last edited by Blownmind on 26 Oct 2012, 3:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well, I got some answers. At first, they said those interests didnt count because they were too popular, too many have those interests. Too many people play wow excessivly. My interests wasn't special enough. (personally, I don't think thats what is meant by "Special", but hey, I don't have the education to back it up)

Then I explained how I wrote a blog about goldmaking in wow, I gather statistics about the game, I read about how to improve my gaming, I am a living database of wow related information, how I make spreadsheets to most effectivly gear/make gold, how I use my wow related time with other things than just playing the game. Then they said its a computer related issue, and that the blossoming of computers and internet does not mean a blossoming of Aspergers. People do sit too much at the computer and not all of them have Aspergers.

Then I explained how when obsessing over other interests I do research at the library, I buy books and read them. It is not all computer related. Then I asked, is that the only reasons why you dont count is as a special interest, because its popular and its at the computer? They answered that is was also because I do not talk about it all the time. Then I explained how I am embarrassed of telling my family about the extent of my gaming life, since its a weird thing in that social circle. I do have one other person except my wife to talk about it too, but he is a compulsive lier, and never admit he is wrong, so discussing it with him is an exercise in futility since most of his facts are made up. I do however talk to my wife about it to a great extent, even long after she grows tired of it.

After I debunked all their reasons for not accepting my interests as obsessions, they still didnt admit that it was special interests, and started to talk about how others things I do and don't do points to me not having Aspergers. So I guess what they finally told me is that me having obsessions or not, doesnt matter in the conclusion of the assessment. Atleast I got an answer to that question, even with asperger-like obsessions, I still don't fit the bill. One of the main things they mentioned that points to me not having Aspergers are the fact that I worry too much about social events/problems that have and/or might occur. It's almost like my social anxiety prevents me from having Aspergers..?

I still think my obsessions should count. If an Aspie obsess over Justin Bieber, it does not make it any less of an obsession because many people do that. But, like mentioned above, it doesn't matter in my case anyways. Oh well, thanks for listening to and comforting my frustration.

My obsession is for instance with TV series, i spend a lot of time watching it and almost as much time researching it, for instance who is acting in it, what other shows do the people play in, and organizing my movie files, even rating them and making summaries (I am scared I will forget the most interesting parts of the TV series in a few years).

Another aspect of my obsessions, which might not be correct as an AS trait, is doing research into weird areas of interest, for instance, I spent about an hour searching up information regarding Amazon River Dolphins (Awesome or what?) and then later river dolphins in general.

Obsessions/special interests aren't a case of all or nothing. Some people can be more obsessive than others, but it is just typically more common in people on the spectrum to have intense interests what take over their mind and life and feel lost without. This doesn't mean that NTs have no interests whatsoever, most NTs have interests what are common among the NT population, like typical females are into fashion and/or shopping, and most typical males are into sports and/or cars, but this can vary. I've heard of NTs that are into things outside the common norm but still aren't narrow, like some people are into gardening, cooking, supernatural, fitness, construction, technology, sewing, animals, et cetera.

I'm not implying that anybody here has posted that NTs don't have interests, I am just comparing intense obsessions and casual obsessions.

I think that assessments can be subjuctive in nature and depend on the viewpoint of the person conducting it. It's possible that if you had visited a different specialist that he/she might have reached a different conclusion. In my assessment he seemed more interested in the depth and intensity of the obsessions rather than the length of time I spend on them. I have diverse interests such as astronomy when I was a kid, to foreign languages and cultures and progressive rock music.

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/obsession

unnatural interest compared to "normal" behaviour?

Well sitting in front of a computer 8-14 h a day is not really pathological in itself I think.

I think it gets bad(= pathological), when you'd forget other really important things around you.
Or when you are going into direction of compulsions (OCD).

Now this sounds a little more into that direction, but still you'll do it on purpose to be able to sleep. I don't know if this is pathological...
If you have a job and you still do that and feel bad about leaving something out. Evtl. stay at home, saying you're sick. Then that would be pathological

Yeah and well, they seem to only wanting to diagnose aspies in Scandinavia that have some serious issues ...
(Many political and organisational decisions are very similar from Norway to Sweden to Finland (Denmark? Island?))

Funny thing, I just realized my Aspergers obsession for 6 months is well documented on these forums in the form of 800 posts. If thats not talking about it, I don't know what is. However, whatever I do or say now won't change their mind, I think. For them I will forever be the guy who tried too hard to get an asperger diagnosis by supplying them with additional information after reading the assessment report. I suspect its hard for professionals to admit fault, and even harder when a report like this is already in the system, and if they change their mind, the whole community can find out. Because, like they told me, assessment reports like this doesn't get deleted from the system every year, and their option if they want to change their mind is to make an addendum, or make a new revision of the old report. So basicly what they have written about me can't be unwritten. It does happen that something gets OKed for deletion, but very rarely.

Ok, I realize this is a weird view on the situation, paranoid thoughts about those who assessed me, but I base my suspicions in a textmessage I got. "I will send you the revised report so we can close this case once and for all. The conclusion will not be changed no matter what."

Perhaps it was poor choice of words on their part, but to me that text sounded like someone who is set in their tracks, unwilling to open their mind.

..I get so frustrated with this whole process. It is my only choice for an assessment, I can't go get a second opinion without paying through the nose, and I feel like they do not listen to what I have to tell them. They do not acknowledge parts of my everyday life which I feel is very relevant to set a diagnosis. They ignore recent studies I can point to that says my WAIS test indicates Aspergers, they said, and I quote; "I know I shouldn't base a diagnosis on a feeling, but from my experience people with Asperger is not worried to the same extent you are by nature", this, together with my obsessions not being obsession-y(?) enough was what she gave me as main reasons for not having Aspergers.

I don't think that an obsession just happening to be something that's popular necessarily makes it less autistic if the focus on it is unusual. I don't know you, so i can't really give much of an opinion on whether or not i think your interest is obsessive enough, but i don't think that WoW being popular should be a reason to say that it can't be an aspie obsession... Although, there also are a lot of people, like "geeks," who aren't autistic but do have highly focused interests on things like certain video games, tv shows, computers, etc. and may know a great deal about them. Autistics just tend to be more fixated.

When i was around 12 i had a huge obsession with pokemon. Around this time a lot of kids my age were also very interested in pokemon. With me it was obviously much much different, though. I always talked about it, and i was known for being pokemon-obsessed, or for being "that pokemon kid." It was my life and practically my identity, whereas with everyone else it was just one of their several interests. I am diagnosed, by the way.

As an adult, my brain has pretty much settled on herpetology as my major special interest. I may have some additional minor fixations now and then, but herpetology is my main ongoing special interest. Like i said i was with pokemon as a kid, it's pretty much my life and my identity. I'm known for being that person who's obsessed with reptiles. Herpetology isn't exactly something that tons of my peers are also interested in, so it's not like WoW or Pokemon in that way, but there are still quite a few NTs who are extremely interested in it if you look for them. I've recently started trying to get involved in things related to my interest, like joining the herpetological society and doing volunteer work, and i've met a bunch of NTs who share my interest in reptiles and amphibians (some might even be considered "obsessed" by NT standards). So, really, no matter which special interest you have, there are most likely going to be some NTs out there somewhere who are also very interested in it(with them it's just probably more balanced out with the other things in their life, though).