Autism as a special interest

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My number 1 autistic trait is developing special interests, but I seem to be unable to "pick" my special interests. Why am I so interested in autism and getting a diagnosis when in fact I have bipolar severely and I'm getting treatment for that? Why didn't I developed an interest in bipolar?

Special interests are a wierd feeling you know. It's like you wake up one day and decide something is totally fasinating and you just can't get enough. As a child I picked up a bird field guide one day... That lead to me doing everything possible about birds and to this day I at least spend a couple hours a day or often more looking at bird id pages on FB, or looking at bird field guides or reading bird Wikipedia articles.

Do you mean that your special interests "pick" you rather than the other way round?

I spent 9 months or more totally obsessed with learning about autism after the penny dropped that I have it, and I blogged so much about it. Then, almost as suddenly, I tired of talking about it and deleted my blog.

I went through a hellish period of 3 or 4 years when I didn't seem interested in anything, and addictions took the place of interests. Which told me that my special interests are good for me .

Generally I have about 4 or 5 interests that I do in rotation, maybe a couple of years each on average. But as I'm getting older, things are getting less intense - which sounds good, but might not be.

I've found I can select my specialist interests, up to a point - but no further. I can spend hours learning geographical facts because I feel I have to know them, and mildly enjoy it, but I could never, by an act of will, replace my true passions, which are physics, mathematics, philosophy, religion and art.

Having autism spectrum disorders as a specialist interest is not at all uncommon among aspies. In 2010, I spent months obsessed with Asperger's Syndrome after learning that Bobby Fischer, one of my favourite chess players (another specialist interest of mine) likely had it. This is what led me to suspect that I had the condition myself, which in turn resulted in my diagnosis.

I do not pick my interests special or otherwise.

I'm not sure how mine would be described properly. They used to be fairly well-defined subjects, but more recently I feel more as if I just have a "sticky brain," i.e. I seem to be compelled to study whatever I look at in great depth, if I study it at all. I frequently reject subjects that cross my path and want nothing to do with them at all apart from the bare minimum understanding of them to get me through whatever it is I need to do that requires that subject. I sometimes think that I've become very mindful of the time and energy it will take if I do get into a subject, and like a potential addiction I'll be wary of touching it. If I don't feel that I'm succeeding much at a subject after a bit of effort, I'll have a strong desire to drop it. Again, it could be related to knowing the time and energy it might take, and the fear of wasting my resources when the stuff I've been working on already has been so antagonistic to the rest of my life.

Rabbit-hole vision.

Autism has become one of my special interests.
Even apart from discovering I was on the spectrum, it really is a fascinating topic. Autistic traits are so variable and the causes are multifactorial both genetically and environmentally, so the scientists are still trying to work out causes and treatments. In fact, they're still trying to work out exactly what autism is at the neurological level. And it's weird the way a condition involving alternative brain wiring is diagnosed behaviourally by psychiatrists and lumped in with mental health disorders. Plus there's all the mystery over why it's 4 times as common in males... if it actually is.
Well, I just find it all completely fascinating.

I started reading about autism when I was in sixth grade. I first read about Asperger syndrome in 1997. The description of Asperger syndrome fit me, especially the special interests portion.

A highly fascinating special interest for me, I know more about it than any specialist ever and I am still learning.

Autism is one of my special interests, which started when I realised I have traits of it. I have never been assessed for it so I still don’t know if I have it or not, but I know I had the traits when I was little, which my family have said, so they’re not from my interest, like I used to wonder.