Any other conditions that lead to obsessive interests?

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Are there any other psychological conditions that typically result in people to forming one or a few,obsessive narrow intellectual interests, apart from Autism/AS?

e.g. Chess, Mathematics, Computer Programming, Busses, Trains, Mechanical Diggers, The Simpson’s, Astronomy, Weather, The Beatles, The Titanic Disaster, Films, Anime, Star Trek DS9 etc.

I can think of only two others - Prader-Willi syndrome and Williams Syndrome. But these are genetic and are easily ruled out.

Essentially, if a person exhibits an obvious obsession about a complex topic of interest, would this imply that the person has Autism/AS? There are no other conditions that I can think of, that can cause such obsessions.

Also, from what I have seen. The intensity of an obsession is inversely proportional to social skills. The more intense the interest the worse the persons social skills.

How would that look in an equation?

Isnt that OCD?....I think western culture and specifically an economy based on incouraging consumerism of nonessential goods and trivia(as apposed to living in a society that discourages materialism like some native american and buddhist beliefs?)Ebay anyone?...incourages OCD behavior even in NTs...and the specialization of many jobs also plays a part in this.It seems that you almost have to be "obsessed" to function in many fields because there is constantly new information to learn.

One problem for me is that my interests dont always last....so, although I am very interested in something today and could get a job in the field...I may lose interest in it tommorow...and it isnt gradual...its like a switch is "turned off"...this sucks...

It is so typical of me that I have reduced humanity to a mathematical theorem.

y = k/x

Where y = social skills; x = obsessivness and k is a constant 1

As for OCD. Obsessions tend to be non-functional. Checking locks, cleaning hands, collecting rubbish/junk. But in AS/autism obsessions are intellectual; the accumulation of facts and knowledge about a favourite subject, or collecting specific objects and arranging them into categories (old records, stamps, minerals). I collect minerals, I identify them and arrangement them into categories. I also have a long time interest in Astronomy.

Also, in AS/autism obsessions are generally enjoyed and are not resisted unlike OCD, where obsessions/compulsions cause distress - people with OCD try not to get obsessed or act compulsively.

However, people with AS/autism miss their obession when it is gone.

But that said, here is a smoth graduation between AS/autism like interests and OCD. They can overlap.

Some people can have obsessions about things without having the other signs of AS, they are called an obsession disorder or obsessional states, these people have good social skills and can also talk about things in general.
I can only talk to people about the subjects that I am interested in, and find general chit chat very difficult.
Simon

or its called OCD which I have. I also think it has to do with AS.

You guys have OCD wrong. The hand washing, lock checking, etc are compulsions, not obsessions, but yes, they are non-functional. However, in the mind of the person with ocd, they serve the "function" of lessening anxiety from obsessions, which are always unpleasant and provoke anxiety, by definition. So, an aspergers obsession with the Titanic would entail doing research, talking about it with others, learning, and generally enjoying knowledge. An ocd obsession would be worrying your family is all going to die in a shipwreck. (and then counting floor tiles in even numbers to "stop" it).

i have some "OCD" tendanceis like checking my alarm clock 3-5 times before laying down or i cant sleep.. checking locks on doors so i feel safe at night.. and checking my person for random items such as keys/wallet cause i loose them all the time... i do that about once an hour... all these things i do cause i have had problems remebering to do them in the first place, so these tendancies have arisen as like a means of compensating... but i depend on them too much now and HAVE to do them.

it's to the point where i can't trust my recollections for these kind of actions.... like i really cant decide whether i set my alram clock or i forgot... ill distinctly remember setting my clock, but then ill disitinctly remember forgetting to do so... even when i've just checked it like 2 min ago. and ive over slept too many times for class or work to just not take 2 secs anymore to just check it.

somtimes i wonder if my inability to actually remember whether or not i did any of these things comes about because they're daily activities... and because there were so many times that ive actually done the task or actually forgot... that it makes them both very vivid in my mind. i dont have issues with ringing/rinsing my hands or cleanliness issues of any sort... just for kind of daily tasks.

Sedaka: I also have had at times to re-check if I did something, and yes, I think that we forget about it because it's something we do on a constant basis.

Have you read about logotherapy? Or about Paradoxical Intention?

well, ive only just now read up on the two, but i think ive been employing that paradoxical intentions thing on my own.

im scatterbrained and forget to do/lose things all the time so im kinda happy with my quirks as they help me get by. i even feel that if i were to undo these things, id go back to being the brainless twit that never remembers to do them in the first place.

the only truly annoying one is the alarm clock cause i do remember checking it the 2nd and 3rd time... but then i second and third guess myelf with "did i remember AM or PM" and "does the dot at teh corner mean AM or PM" and I run through the same circles all the time...

ive tried telling myself "so what if im late to work?" and then sleeping w/o checking my clock... sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. ive taken more to staring at my clock once for a very long time before sleeping and runnin through all these questions in my head and then not letting myself look at it again. seems to take care of most of it...

hey Sedaka, good to see you arriving at it on your own

about the clock: do you have a cellphone? Now that I have one semi-modern, it has the option to only wake me up monday-to-saturday, and it "auto-programs" so you don't have to turn it on daily. I love this feature

Not all AS-type interests are necessarily functional.

I strongly agree with the rest, though. My other half has OCD, though it's very much under control these days. When it used to be bad, she would organize her clothes and clean the house endlessly, up to 10 hours, passing through several phases along the way. Sometimes she'd control somewhere along the way, but other times it would proceed through all the phases. She'd start off relatively normal, calm or even a bit unmotivated. Then she'd start getting anxious and she'd begin wiping down every handle and tap in the house, stuff like that. Anxiety would gradually give way to increasing frustration and anger, till finally she collapsed in tears, saying things like "I can't stop!" When she can control it, she's happier, and happiest if she doesn't experience the obsession at all.

My own obsessive behaviour involves reading and looking at pictures and maps mainly. I'll sometimes do this for a similar amount of time, getting progressively more involved in it and excited about it. It makes me happy, and unlike her, if I don't get to experience my obsession/interest for long periods of time, or if the enviroment is so distracting I am unable to ever achieve a certain level of focus, I become increasingly distressed and upset. Not only that but my general functioning becomes impaired (very noticeably, my ability to filter sounds, like understanding someone when a radio or television is on, begins to erode to an alarming degree). Despite this requirement, it can still be unhealthy if it goes unchecked and too much time is spent on it. If I don't act to limit the time I spend on it, I won't eat right, won't take care of myself, won't attend to responsibilities. I have to walk a careful line between satisfying my interests and attending to the rest of my life.

OCD is an anxiety disorder. Obsession (anxiety, fear.. etc): contamination
Compulsion: excessive hand washing.

the obsession is not voluntary. (I should know)


"Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder, more specifically, an anxiety disorder. OCD is manifested in a variety of forms, but is most commonly characterized by a subject's obsessive (repetitive, distressing, intrusive) thoughts and related compulsions (tasks or rituals) which attempt to neutralize the obsessions.."



but maybe people with ocd are prone to obsessive interests because of their obsessive nature.

just have in mind that (voluntary) obsessive interests are not a direct result of ocd.





this happens to me as well. it's really quite sad, don't you think?

sorry 'bout that last post, didn't bother reading before posting.

someone should start an ocd thread (if there isn't one already)

Don't OCD obsessions and compulsions cause distress to the person? I've only read one book about OCD, but I never heard of any person with OCD having any enjoyment--they feel forced to do or to think what they do, and know it's weird and non-functional but do so anyway. Whereas, the special interests that come with AS are enjoyable, relaxing, and a big part of our lives... their use--intellectual stimulation and relaxation--is obvious, unlike the nonfunctional washing, checking, and obsessing of OCD.

Those two things seem to be totally different concepts... they're both called "obsessions", but the definitions of "obsession" are different and it's really only the word that connects them.

Ive heard about a label called 'obsessive personality' or something similar, where obsessions are present without the anxiety present in classical OCD. The obsessions can be a rewarding & enjoyable pursuit for the individual.

imo it sounds like a synonym for very-high functioning AS/PDD-NOS. Although i dont think many of these psychiatric labels have much clinical integrity, especially when theyre only describing personality traits.