Is this a form of obsession?

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wow i repeated the same 3 songs when i was at uni 10years ago baby face, numb and lemon, im gunna play them again now..i diidnt know i was aspei then.

great to know i am consistent without even being aware

This is a habit that drives everyone else insane. When I like a song, I really like the song, and I play it over and over again for hours. The current record for most times played is 3015. It is a song called the Hampster Dance, and for some reason, I absolutely have to listen to that song whenever I am on the computer, or in the car, or reading a book, or whatever--I have to do it. Currently, I am obsessing over the Pachabel Canon, which is, for some reason, better received than my other favorite.

There are quite a few songs I do this with, not just one, purely because the tune is awesome or they have touched me emotionally in some way thats good, so playing them over and over makes me feel good and settles me.

I do this so often that I associate periods of my life according to what song or album I was obsessed with at the time. I didn't know it was anything unusual about it since my mother would also play the same song a million times.

It was a good thing she had great musical taste or it would've driven me insane. Of course, I can't say anything since my neighbors probably just love it when I play the same Celine Dion song fifty times.

Donkey! wow no way man! Are you serious?!?!?!?

Wow, I'm amazed!



Also I remembered that in Uni I put "Hit" by The Sugarcubes on repeat on a cd.
Long stoy short, two hours later a guy who lived in front of my room asked that if
I could PLEASE change the damn track

Err, no. Somebody pointed out in #wrongplanet (sorry, I can't remember who) that "obsession" is a largely misused word, especially in the AS community (for obvious reasons - so many of us *have* these "encompassing preoccupation[s]"). To put it briefly, an obsession must be either unwanted or unreasonable according to the majority of the definitions I've read. MSN's Encarta dictionary defines it as a "preoccupation" alone, and Merriam-Webster concedes that when taken "broadly", it can mean "compelling motivation", but it seems by most definitions that that's too broad.

Definition from dictionary.com:

Dictionary.com's results for "compulsive" are extremely unuseful, so let's head straight to Wikipedia to get its definition of both terms.

Here's Wikipedia's definition of "obsessions" within the context of obsessive-compulsive disorder (note: all of these characteristics combine to define "obsessions"):


And "compulsions":


Clearly, this isn't something that's unwanted or distressful.

So, how should this be described, then? Um... Gee, I don't know. This person I speak of suggested "perseveration", but when I looked up this definition, it didn't seem to fit. How about just "preoccupation"? That's what it says in the DSM-IV criteria for Asperger's ("encompassing preoccupation ..."). In this case, perhaps "repetitive preoccupation"?

*amazed* Me too! And years later, hearing that song or album can take me right back there.

I always find as well that whatever I happen to be doing at the time I hear a new song becomes forever connected with it. Like if I happened to be obsessed with a certain movie or TV show at the time I heard the song, it always makes me think of that fandom whenever I hear it afterwards, even if the style or lyrics have nothing whatsoever to do with it.

I'm glad I don't live near you!

Now that a few mentioned listening to CDs over and over...I do that as well. Over and over...and over...and over...



Had the same thing happen to me once...and it was with a friend who was over for a school project. She was like, "why are we listening to same song over and over?"

@sireebob: Good point, thanks for the correction. "Preoccupation" sounds okay, I guess?

Yup. Consistency & repetition are great IF you like what's currently playing...

I made many mix tapes off radio, from past 20 years. Playing the tapes is somewhat of a time capsule or "state-dependent memory", of my life at that particular time.

Yep it is an obession. I do that to my video game music and also to some of my favorite cds. Ie Garbage, NickelBack, and some others.

Hey then what sould we call it?

continuous?
uninterrupted?
recurrent?

I vote for "continuous music loop"
and "continuous music taste"

I asked this very question a while back (it might have been in the chatroom actually). A lot of aspies answered back and said they did this (myself included). NT's obviously get songs stuck in their head as well, but they generally don't repeat them as much as I do. I'm not sure if it would be classified as an obsession though.