Bipolar depressive phase vs. Aspie special interest

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Just wondering if other people struggle with this too...

When you're in a bipolar depressive phase, are you unable to enjoy your Aspie special interest?

My special interest is writing, but when I'm depressed I can't enjoy it. I have no creative inspiration, writing feels like impossibly hard work, what I do write comes out terrible, and I think my story is a piece of crap. (But when I'm not depressed, I love it and believe it's worth writing!)

Anyway that's the hardest part of depression for me - losing interest in the ONE thing that I truly love. The only solution I've been able to come up with is to find a secondary interest that I can focus on when I'm depressed.

Does this happen to anyone else? Any suggestions for how to deal with it?

I have a friend who's bipolar (but not Aspie) whose special interest (anyway) is writing. She says similar things as you when she's depressed: No motivation for writing, and that it is hard. Which makes life feel rather hollow, unjoyful, and meaningless.

She tries to "force" herself to do some writing exercises, anyway, when she's feeling like that. Not sure how that's going for her...but, she does it. I guess just to stay sharp, or practice. (Because writing is what she wants to do.)

Basically she has a few other, milder interests that she tries to keep herself engaged in when she's depressed: Cooking, blogging and enjoying some other social media sites that are not too conversationally-demanding/interactive; going on nature walks; sometimes some photography. *shrugs* I think she takes a smorgasbord approach to it.

Sorry I'm not bipolar or Aspie personally so I could be of more help, but I thought at least this might be of some small value, anyway.

Thanks Ember! I've come to the same conclusion - that trying to do some writing, but also turning to other interests, is the best way to weather the depressive phases.

I'm starting to realize that bipolar disorder is actually quite antagonistic to Asperger's, since it interferes with my ability to enjoy my special interest, and also my Aspie desire for structure and schedule and stability, and resistance to change. With bipolar, I'm always having to adjust, and switch to a different routine and interest, and nothing ever stays the same for very long.

Anyway I'm grateful that I'm finally beginning to understand the forces at work inside my mind!

Yes! This is really bringing me down right now. It's one thing when the interest is there but you can't get into it, but lately I've almost given up on trying to feel like myself anymore. That's the really depressing part.

Ugh, I hate when depressions last so long that it feels like there's no end in sight. My cycles have been fairly short lately, so at least when I'm down, I'm pretty sure it will swing the other way again in a few days... I hope yours ends soon too!

I'm trying a new approach, switching between my two biggest interests - writing when I'm manic, and World of Warcraft when I'm depressed. And depending on what phase I'm in, I'll do 90% of one, and 10% of the other... Kind of a yin-yang approach to my Aspie obsessions... We'll see how this works!