Special Interests

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I'm not Dx so might not have special interests and it might just be obsessions or addictions.

Does anyone on the spectrum deliberately not research things because you feel it might become a special interest and you don't want it to.

How easy is it to ignore your special interest , how long can you go without it?

Can you suffer some type of grief if you are permanently unable to continue your interest?

If one is especially interested in something, why try to avoid it? Why deny yourself the pleasure?

Instead, remind yourself there is a world beyond your "special interest," and live in it. Learning about what is around you will probably augment and expand your knowledge of the "special interest."

Try not to prevent yourself from, say, eating, or paying bills because of your "special interest."

Are special interests all about pleasure? If thats the case then maybe I don't have special interests , they are more like addictions that I zone out with and don't have to deal with RL.

I can get into a hyperfocus state that switches off my need to eat & drink

The only reason I don't want another special interest is that I know I will get too absorbed to the detriment of relationships ( mainly my GF ) and possibly my mental health as it's an escape from RL.

I had to be a lot more careful in the past not to let a special interest take over my life. Now that isn't such a problem. I'm still passionate about my favorite things, but there is a greater balance between just reading about it and actually doing things related to my interests.

I have stifled a budding interest on more than one occasion because I could tell it was going to get very expensive. But pricey or not, I can't "contain" all the knowledge that I long for, and there isn't the time, so I do try to narrow down my choices so as not to get too frustrated.

I don't think mine would count as special interests.

Pre internet: Making cassette tapes by artist/genre/year etc. Writing lists of songs by genre/year etc.

Internet: Checking my rss feeds and twitter over a dozen times a day for articles to post on forums. Mostly mental health and politics.

Sometimes but sometimes the attraction is too strong to avoid. I avoid certain special interests so i dont phase out my main Sonic one. I have always had side special interests such as Five Nights At Freddys, hedgehogs, dogs, ASD, Psychology and cinema but i would in no way consider them real "special interests" because they dont last as long and arent as fixated as a real Special Interests.

You shouldnt fight it. Embrace it.

Thanks for your answers guys.

I have very little knowledge about the mechanics of cars and have deliberately stayed away from finding out how they tick when there is a problem, as I know if I go down that route I will become a grease monkey in a short space of time and will forever be tinkering with my car and would dismantle it completely to get a visual picture of how it works - which I don't want to do. I know it would become a special interest as I love diagnosing problems and finding fixes for everything in the world from mobile phones to PC's to my mental health ( not so good on the last one lol! )

Having said that about them not being 'special interests' I do become fixated on them to the neglect of other things.

Why avoid THAT?

Thats a practical thing.

If you become a gear head then you will at least be able save money, and likely be able to earn money, fixing cars.

I dont go out of my way to get involved with video games because I have a feeling if I got good at them then I would bcome hopelessly addicted to them. I designed my own pre computer war simulation game back in college in the late 70's simulating naval warships in WWII. It involved dice, and tables, and a hex sheet to move markers representing ships around. Even that cumbersome noncomputerized game was literally "more addicting than crack" for me (I tried crack once, The game was more addicting). So a 21st century computerized version of it would worse than crystal meth!

I suppose it's because I tend to take things to extremes , I can't have a hobby as it just takes over everything as I don't do things by half. Yeah it would be nice to save on repair bills but there is a lot of responsibility involved in repairing cars and I don't do responsibilty very well.

As for current video games being like crystal meth I have to agree , I was No. 1 in the world on a certain video game but it ruined my life for 6-12 months as I thought about nothing else , I even dreamt about playing it , I still play video games and it is very easy for me to slip into hyperfocus and then wonder why it's getting light outside and the birds are cheaping their dawn chorus.

Special interests are my strongest autistic trait.

Yeah I'll second that. I think they have a sensory component i.e. provide stimulation /escape.

Not everyone has the stereotypical special interest thing. There's definitely schoolmates who have it to a greater degree than I do.

Mine tend to wax and wane. I'll play my video game incessantly and then switch to listening some type of music incessantly to looking at maps and street views incessantly. Some days I just channel surf.

But there's no exclusive interest I'm 100% committed to all the time for weeks (at least not these days). And I do avoid certain things for fear of becoming overly preoccupied with it - and it therefore holding me captive.

Last edited by EzraS on 03 Apr 2017, 5:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

Yes definitely.

It also seems to me that the symptom of special interests persists more than the social stuff as one gets older, at the milder end of the spectrum anyway. Sometimes I can't even explain why something interests me but certain things just grab me.