Is it common to have 3 major obsessions your whole life?

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My nephew has Aspergers Syndrome and he goes to a youth group for teens with AS. One of his friends in the group has had three major obsessions his whole life. They are computer/programming, math, and science fiction. Is this common or is he a rare case? I always thought someone with AS had one major obsession their whole life and other obsessions that change in time.

Actually, I am now fifty and have had one lifelong obsession, though many minor, more ephemeral obsessions. My lifelong obsession is much more broad than your nephew's, which is to understand the ideas and cultures that make our modern societies what they are.

I would further say your nephew is lucky. He has obsessions, or what we call special interests, that will not only land him a good job, but will give him something healthy to focus on for the rest of his life. If other aspies could only be so lucky as your nephew and I....

I myself have a number of 'special interests', though only two of those have been lifelong. I can commonly have a brief but absorbing interest in something, before losing interest.

From my own experiences and what I have read, these interests stay with us.

It can happen. However... and this seems like a dismissive statement, but is not intended to... I do not feel that a lifelong obsession can be identified in your teens.

Aspies have what they call "Special Interests"... sometimes... and this is rarely, we get lucky and we will have a special interest that sticks... and we are lucky for it... I have a couple myself... One is film making the other is an obsession with research.

This is not intended as self promotion, but I just covered special interests in my ongoing series "Care and Feeding of Your Aspie"

Special interests (Clickable link)

Last edited by Feralucce on 18 Jun 2013, 4:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

Wow, math. I think I'm lifelong obsessed with how much I hate it, and how bad I am at it. Although I do have a mild OCD-like thing about odd and even numbers.

I have at least 2 Special Interests that have been set permanently - one is programing and the other is creating or designing things both are set in stone. I was in another one that lasted for about 10 years untill the purpose for it died out in the area but was at the top of my class in it - that might simply be an extreme obsession but the 2 remain and I am now 62 - the creating or designing thing started when I was 4

    There's a rule?? uh oh, I think I'm doing it wrong...
    

Yes, some ASD'ers (apies) have a few special interests at once and sure someone could have a few lifelong ones.

I have two special interests that never go away, and some other ones that seem to go in cycles. I can't tell if the two will be permanent because I'm young. I don't really think your nephew or his friend are in a unique position. Also, those three special interests still might change for him.

not just aspies,the actual label of ASD each one of us have doesnt affect whether we will have special interests- OR not, the only people on the spectrum who do not get significantly obsessive special interests are those who have profound intelectual disability; a common regular interest in this group is watching tv but they do not watch it for the program itself it is only the sensory input it gives them,the colours and lines and for some people-the sounds.
many very mildly autistic people also do not have significant special interests,they tend to have non obsessive interests that emulate the NT background.

am severely autistic and mine have been lifelong around;animals,computers,disabled sport,cartoons;for sensory input.
am a special olympics club athlete but cant afford the sessions at the moment,and also a RDA rider but the last RDA school was in was closing and theres no where else around willing to accept,plus not able to afford it anymore anyway,riding schools have all put their prices up and its only half an hour long,dont mind it if actualy went to the horses and not their profit.

I've got 3 obsessions that I've had for at least 10 years (am now 24) and have had one of them for about 17 years now.

Yes, it's very possible to have more than three special interests. I do. But I think with me, it was the result of my analyzing my special interests and finding what qualities I enjoyed/was drawn to that enabled me to find more special interests.

I'm 16 right now and I guess I have three now that you bring it up-- Art(broad range like music, writing, drawing, etc,), Fictional Character(them and their pairings-- always been an obsession!) and Reptiles!! My whole life I've been obsessed with all of those.

Each one can break down into subgroups, but all special interests seem to revolve around those.
Mental health/personality quizzes also were a special interest for awhile. =) Still midly is.

I'm 48 years old and had the same interest since I was 6 years old.

I got really interested in the Titanic around age 7 and I am still fascinated by it!
Aside from that, though, I have developed other, equally strong interests that I often retreat to. Most of them end up being particularly long-term, though.

I think daydreamer84 was using "Aspies" as shorthand for "people on the autistic spectrum". At least, I know I do that all the time.