Dealing with special interests that affect you negatively?

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Hi, I am currently struggling with a special interest that -while is isn't inherently bad- is affecting me in bad ways. A lot of my special interests tend towards fiction/TV shows and this one is no different, but for some reason the obsession came on really fast and its really intense?

It's the TV show Shameless which isn't particularly outstanding in any way, but in the space of like three weeks I've gone from knowing nothing about it to watching the full series, watching each episode as it comes out at least three times back to back without break; then a few more times just in the first day after it comes out; repeating specific scenes/moments over and over (for example one scene in the most recent episode I have watched more than 100 times since it came out a couple of days ago); consuming everything I can about the show and feeling lost when I run out of avenues to go down.

It literally consumes my thoughts, prevents me from socialising/sleeping etc I am constantly thinking about the show with friends, at university, and I really want to talk about it a lot but people don't really want to listen (its obviously not one of my more interesting special interests). I am aware this is unhealthy, and am especially worried since the last episode of the season is next week and I don't know how I'll be after that.

tldr; my obsession with this particular special interest is unhealthy, does anyone know how to deal with SI's when they get like this?

Please, not TV shows. I did the same with Only Fools and Horses boxset, Shameless too! The comedy Derek. Breaking Bad. Prison Break. The worst was NCIS. I've honestly watched NCIS and Only Fools and Horses well over 1000 times (not 1000 times each episode, but the entire box sets).

I think it only becomes negative if it effects your life. Which it seems to be doing. When I left my DVD's at my moms they died. Netflix game me a reason to watch Breaking Bad though. Maybe you could take the DVDs somewhere for safe keeping for a while. And avoid watching them online ha ha.

What I usually find though is a new special interest comes along.

Ps. I forgot about Columbo!

I have had the same problem, the funny thing is that if my obsession is as severe as you say yours is when it eventually does stop I end up actually disliking what I was obsessed with.

as far as I can see from my own experience is that the only thing you can do it wait it out, one good thing that if its a TV show, you will eventually run out of new material to feed the interest and then hopefully if will go away.

I know it can be difficult though, it really can take over everything.

I had this problem and it was called OCD because it was actually causing me distress you described. That is where it confuses me because wouldn't ASD special interests cause distress if they knew it was taking over their lives and it was unhealthy and they wanted to move on from it but couldn't because of the problems it was causing the and getting in their way of life? But yet people on here say its not OCD and it doesn't cause you these things but I do believe our interests can cause us distress because of our awareness what it's doing to us.


But I get it now, it becomes OCD when you don't like your interest anymore and wish to move beyond it while other ASD people love their interest and don't want to move beyond it.

i dont consider tv show obsessions very bad, i watched nine seasons of supernatural in ONE MONTH. my grades dropped and i didnt think about anything else and i guess that wasnt too good, but half a year ago i had this obsession with serial killers, and i was very affected, and found people like Ted Bundy extremely cute, and i planned murders and jfc this obsession lasted for about a year, so i know a whole lot about it!

point is, you should be glad its a tv show, because it could have been a lot worse!

Hm, that is interesting. I mean, even though I know I probably should, I really don't want to move beyond this interest... even the idea of that makes me sad! There are always a lot of overlaps with ASDs and other things like OCD/ADD/anxiety though aren't there. It gets very confusing to differentiate!


tv shows are definitely my go-to special interests, i understand! i've just never had one quite so intense before. And yeah... the internet is definitely a bad influence, it's so easy to watch everything/get information!


that is true! i am hoping my interest will wane or at least not be as all-consuming after the show has ended...

I do not know if it is about being distressed about being obsessed but why. OCD is OCD. Autism is a pervasive condition that has OCD or OCD like traits

League_Girl, you can love your special interest and it can still be destroying your world if it is an addiction. You can also love your special interest and still strive to move beyond it if you know it is taking over your world. For instance a mother can neglect her child in some ways because she is focusing too much on a special interest, and then that child can cause trouble for the family and himself because he is neglected. This is just one example.

Imo do not worry so much what this or that is called. It is good to have names for things, but this, too, can become too much of a special interest to the neglect of other important facets and for some here is what I would call a disorder (because of whatever). Just try to learn about yourself, and this will put things into order faster, imo, though it can be a kind of slow process, but worth it.

I just go by what I have been told by my mother my psychiatrist told her and he was an ASD specialist. What is interesting is, someone at the autism group said that is how OCD gets misdiagnosed and it made me wonder could it have been mistaken for OCD? Who knows.