The term 'Autism' means 'absorbed in the self'.

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I think I probably am pretty self-absorbed, I am often analysing myself, questioning things and thinking about stuff. It may not be a trait I like in myself very much when I think about it, but that doesn't make it any less true.

That is implying everyone is autistic lol. Don't we all get absorbed in our own worlds?

I know I am often in my own world doing my own thing and prefer to be by myself. I never really liked groups. Sure I wanted friends and someone to play with so I had them but I also played alone. I get absorbed in my own interests and in what I am doing.

What would the opposite be? Xenism?

"Focussed" might be a better term for the condition. Or something that implies focus in a debilitating sense. *ducks*

Having read Asperger's paper where he described his view on autism, he uses the word "autism" because his patients act from themselves rather than from what others expect of them - he explicitly notes both the positive and negative aspects of this.

The definition is correct.

That's a good point. Doesn't everyone have interests? A lot of times they are called hobbies. But I see my neighbor get so absorbed into his mechanical stuff that it appears he is in his own world---and he is not autistic.

Thinking about this, in my opinion what makes it different is for my neighbor, his main drive in life is socializing with his friends. And me, with autism, prefer my interests and not having the socializing with friends.

But then, don't many on the autism spectrum want to have friends? And I would say the answer there is many do. But I don't. But was I always this way? I don't know for sure because when we think back on our childhoods, it can be hard to remember exactly. But I can tell you this---I remember even in childhood how awkward it was getting together with other children my age at parties, recess, etc. I just never seemed to fit in. So I preferred doing my own thing---with my interests.

So...I suspect that for many of us, when we experience the social awkwardness, we tune in heavily to our interests instead of searching for socializing.

With that said, many NTs might have really involved interests, but it seems like they are also into socializing and usually seem to fit in. For many of us that are autistic, we have special intense interests, but our socializing is awkward.

But this gets pretty complex when we look at things like introverted NTs. They might appear to be autistic if they have involved interests. But then we might begin looking at the other things like sensory issues that many of us with autism have. And now we might understand why we have to meet certain criteria to be diagnosed autistic. It is more than interests and self-absorption.

Whew...it's quite involved. And now I am rambling. I think I will end with that.

Okay.

I am not absorbed in my self in the same way that other people would be absorbed in themselves if they were described as being absorbed in themselves. I do not spend much time thinking about my self. It is more like I am absorbed in my interests, e.g. science, sci-fi, none of which have much to do with my self. Or am I interpreting this "absorbed in self" too literally?

One thing that makes me appear to be absorbed in my self the way that other people would be absorbed in themselves if they were described as being absorbed in themselves is that I usually talk from my own perspective using the pronoun "I". This is mostly because I am autistic, and I do not have much of a shared experience with people around me, so I have no choice but to speak from my perspective. I do not make pronouncements like "XYZ is true, no s**t, Watson", because I have learned that these pronouncements make no sense to others who share a set of deeply overlapping experiences with each other, but not with me. Instead, I make statements like "I think that XYZ is true, and here is why I think that XYZ is true", so my statements involve multiple uses of "I" when I am actually talking about XYZ instead of my self.

I think most people on the autism spectrum are actually less self absorbed than most NT's... Isn't that why we notice things they don't about the world around us?

I have always thought that NTs, in order to be naturally social people, have to be highly absorbed in both self and others, i.e. have a lot of thoughts and feelings about self, others, and relations between self and others, whether in one-to-one relationships or as part of groups with social hierarchy and power balances and whatnot. I have always thought that autistics were both less self- and other-absorbed than NTs. We look like we are highly self-absorbed to people who are both highly self- and other-absorbed. Self- and other-absorption in NTs seems to have been replaced with absorption in the physical world in autistics, e.g. tangible objects and abstract concepts derived from tangible objects.

Try as I might not to be, I'm extremely self-absorbed.

I tend to be self absorbed.

yes it comes from the greek word autos,meaning self.however the word autism was first used in reference to schizophrenia in 1911 by eugene blueler.the word autism wasnt used in reference to PDD's until 1943 by leo kanner.im not sure the word autism means anything at all actualy

Indeed. I think it applies to autism as a whole.

When people hear 'self absorbed' they think of something negative like someone that is selfish. I think I once got flamed by saying something similar.
I think the problem here is when someone on the autism spectrum hears a definition they don't agree with they have to jump on it.
But we have to think of the origins of autism and personally 'socially awkward though they try hard to fit in' just doesn't describe autism enough to me.
I'm self absorbed in that I'm preoccupied with my interests and had to learn about how other people thought and the appropriate social customs. And I have to keep reminding myself about them. To non-autistic people or anyone that has properly functioning frontal lobes it's something they can pick up on and it becomes a natural process.

To people that have accused me of being selfish I say, "well all I know is me. I live in my own world and am constantly surrounded by my thoughts and though I have friends even when I'm with them I don't feel any kind of bond."

Not with such intensity though. Not that it affects their communication skills and the way they respond to the environment.

I think the problem here is people are seeing autism as high functioning. Now, you can't use a definition of HFA to describe the whole spectrum. You need something that will sum up the whole spectrum. People actually differentiate autism and AS by saying one has more social withdrawal, the other wants friends but lacks the skills. Although, Verdandi will probably tell me it's not always the case.

I think to get an more accurate picture of autism you need to go back to the early years, before diagnosis and interventions and therapies and social skill lessons. You will see a child with intense interests and not much interest to anything outside of it. And yes, I know some people with AS even that early on aren't like that but again they're on the mild end of the spectrum.
We need a definition that groups the whole spectrum together. This is the way NT's work. They deal with the bigger picture when nitpicking at the details.

I don't like to describe myself as self-absorbed. I'd rather describe myself as intense. I don't need to go into my lifelong special interest, but that's how intense I can be. There's nothing wrong with that.