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firemonkey
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15 Nov 2017, 1:34 am

Could someone explain to me what defines special interests ? How is it different from hobbies?

I don't think I have special interests but will explain what I do do.

For years I have been frequently checking my rss feeds and later Twitter for articles to post on forums. These are primarily mental health related and secondarily political and general articles .

I also save many of these articles to my usb drive .

Whilst thinking this does not qualify as special interests I have a feeling it is not typical NT behaviour either.



EzraS
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15 Nov 2017, 2:58 am

It's basically whatever I'm fixated on. Thoroughly absorbed with. What my primary interest is. What I spend the most time on actively and mentally. There is always something like that going on with me. It doesn't really matter what it is.



LostGirI
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15 Nov 2017, 11:49 am

Personally I think a special interest is more intense than a hobby. A hobby I guess people pick up as and when and do it when they can, or if they feel like it. Whereas a special interest to me is something that you are intensely interested in and it takes up most of your time and your thoughts. And you do all you can to spend your time on that special interest. It's like it kind of takes over your life and is kind of who you are to a point. Or at least that's what it is like for me :oops:


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the_phoenix
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15 Nov 2017, 12:00 pm

I have interests, passions, and hobbies.
I don't like calling them "special interests"
because I feel that terms like that can be used
to make autistic people feel "less than."

My interests are just as valid as an NT's interests.
So there. :)



Trogluddite
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15 Nov 2017, 12:50 pm

I'm not keen on the phrase "special interests" as I think the words sound like a euphemism. However, I do think there is behaviour which is distinct from just having a hobby. For myself, I would say it has to do with...

- A strong feeling of anxiety if I cannot engage in the interest for more than a day or two.
- Finding myself engaged in the interest with no memory of when I started, and realising that I never had a conscious intention to start doing it.
- Anxiety and frustration when having to break off from the interest to do something else, to the point that more important/urgent tasks do not get done.
- Focus on the interest to the point of not noticing the world around me or my own feelings of hunger, thirst, pain, temperature, fatigue etc.
- Being completely unaware of how much time I'm spending on the interest.
- Wanting to talk about the interest to the exclusion of other things, and getting frustrated at not finding anyone willing to talk with me about them.


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BTDT
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15 Nov 2017, 12:56 pm

NTs often discover they can't turn their hobbies into a job they can do every day. It is too much and they get sick of it, like eating too much candy. But, I have done my special interest as a full time job for the past three decades. :D



LostGirI
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15 Nov 2017, 12:57 pm

Trogluddite wrote:
I'm not keen on the phrase "special interests" as I think the words sound like a euphemism. However, I do think there is behaviour which is distinct from just having a hobby. For myself, I would say it has to do with...

- A strong feeling of anxiety if I cannot engage in the interest for more than a day or two.
- Finding myself engaged in the interest with no memory of when I started, and realising that I never had a conscious intention to start doing it.
- Anxiety and frustration when having to break off from the interest to do something else, to the point that more important/urgent tasks do not get done.
- Focus on the interest to the point of not noticing the world around me or my own feelings of hunger, thirst, pain, temperature, fatigue etc.
- Being completely unaware of how much time I'm spending on the interest.
- Wanting to talk about the interest to the exclusion of other things, and getting frustrated at not finding anyone willing to talk with me about them.


Some really good points there and I'd have to agree with all of them. Especially about the anxiety and not taking into account whether you're fatigued, in pain, the weather or temp is not good and all that kind of thing.

I've not given much thought to the term special interest. I don't really find it offensive


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Mr SmokeTooMuch
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15 Nov 2017, 1:01 pm

For me , it's a kind of refuge from day to day life .
Something that takes my focus completely .


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Trogluddite
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15 Nov 2017, 1:20 pm

^^ Very good point. My earlier post could be seen as only the 'negatives', but my interests are definitely a 'sanctuary' of sorts, which is very necessary when I'm feeling overloaded by the outside world. I have told people in the past that my interests are not just "things I do", but are "places that I go.".


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kicker
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15 Nov 2017, 1:27 pm

As to the OP question as to what defines a special interest as opposed to a hobby/interest.

A special interests focuses on a part(s) rather than a whole.
For example someone with ASD will have an interest in the transmission(s) used in cars rather than the cars themselves. Or they may have an interest in birdhouses without an interest in the birds that inhabit them. Individuals who have ASD will want to talk about their subject of interest and will bring it up in conversation even when the other party has no interest, will engage in their interest every opportunity they have, and will become "experts" in their interest. (The use of expert is subjective to the audience applying it hence the quotation.)

Again it is very specific to a part rather than a whole.
Having an interest in Manga (Japanese cartoons) is rather broad while it is an interest it is not a special interest. While having a interest in Hokusai Manga books (1814–1834) specifically and knowing every detail while having little to no interest in other eras or forms is a special interest.

Special interests in people with ASD tend to be persistent.
Meaning they will have their interest for a very long time and it doesn't fluctuate or change often. So someone with an interest in Hokusai Manga books will be interested in it for years after they have learned all details and specifics.

Special interests tend to focus on how something works rather than how it makes them or others feel about it.
For example it's the technique and end result of a painting (everything the right color, the right place, the right size etc.)(the how it works) rather than the experience of painting it or looking at it (the emotional).

At least that has been my personal experience with ASD and how special interests are in myself and others I have met.



Cratilla
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15 Nov 2017, 1:30 pm

I also don't know where the line is on what counts, versus simply an interest.

My Mum got annoyed when I was a kid, saying that I didn't have to get do obsessed over things. I figured she just needed more interests of her own. My Dad said it was normal, but then my Dad has a singular very specific and niche interest that is basically his life, so...

I have something now that could maybe count as this? I'm not sure. I collect animal sex facts, have for years. Tell them to anyone who'll let me, and only within the past year realised that people may not want to know - like how unresponsive my boss was when we were alone together in a car for a few hours, and I gave a lecture on arachnid mating habits.

But I don't think I'm an expert on them by any means, and it's an interesting topic rather than something outlandish. It doesn't dominate my life (conversations, possibly).

:shrugs:



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15 Nov 2017, 1:50 pm

Trogluddite wrote:
I'm not keen on the phrase "special interests" as I think the words sound like a euphemism. However, I do think there is behaviour which is distinct from just having a hobby. For myself, I would say it has to do with...

- A strong feeling of anxiety if I cannot engage in the interest for more than a day or two.
- ...
- Anxiety and frustration when having to break off from the interest to do something else, to the point that more important/urgent tasks do not get done.
- Focus on the interest to the point of not noticing the world around me or my own feelings of hunger, thirst, pain, temperature, fatigue etc.
- Being completely unaware of how much time I'm spending on the interest.
- ...


The bullet points I kept in your post are ones I can identify with.
And that said,
rather than call it "engaging in a special interest" ...
I call it "being a dedicated artist."

Because I've gone out to take landscape photos to the point where:

- Was the only one on the highway during a snow storm. Glad the cops didn't shut down the highway.
- Was the only one on the nature trail during a different snow storm such that the park ranger thought I was nuts.
- Left yet another nature trail ten minutes before the cops closed the roads due to a third snow storm.
- Ran from a pit bull in the hills after taking a photo of a pink 1954 Dodge car sitting on a hilltop under some trees.
- Walked around to take photos (and rode horses) in the Smoky Mountains on a broken foot.
- Developed heat rash in the noon-day summer sun taking photos of the Smoky Mountains.
- Started getting hypothermia such that my fingers were numb on a drizzly, rainy cold spring day.

My nickname is the Queen of Narnia because I love winter weather so much.



Trogluddite
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15 Nov 2017, 2:02 pm

Quote:
I call it "being a dedicated artist."


I can identify with that, I think there's a big overlap between 'special interests' and artistry and craftsmanship of all kinds. I think that's partly why I'm not keen on the 'special interests' phrase, I always feel like it hints at a perjorative meaning of pointless/socially-unacceptable/deviant, which are of course, all utterly subjective.


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the_phoenix
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15 Nov 2017, 2:10 pm

Trogluddite wrote:
Quote:
I call it "being a dedicated artist."


I can identify with that, I think there's a big overlap between 'special interests' and artistry and craftsmanship of all kinds. I think that's partly why I'm not keen on the 'special interests' phrase, I always feel like it hints at a perjorative meaning of pointless/socially-unacceptable/deviant, which are of course, all utterly subjective.


Precisely! :)



SaveFerris
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15 Nov 2017, 2:18 pm

Trogluddite wrote:
I'm not keen on the phrase "special interests" as I think the words sound like a euphemism. However, I do think there is behaviour which is distinct from just having a hobby. For myself, I would say it has to do with...

- A strong feeling of anxiety if I cannot engage in the interest for more than a day or two.
- Finding myself engaged in the interest with no memory of when I started, and realising that I never had a conscious intention to start doing it.
- Anxiety and frustration when having to break off from the interest to do something else, to the point that more important/urgent tasks do not get done.
- Focus on the interest to the point of not noticing the world around me or my own feelings of hunger, thirst, pain, temperature, fatigue etc.
- Being completely unaware of how much time I'm spending on the interest.
- Wanting to talk about the interest to the exclusion of other things, and getting frustrated at not finding anyone willing to talk with me about them.


I thought I had special interests but the only thing I can relate to is the focus as I usually totally lose myself ( almost as if I go to fantasy land in my head )

I do not get anxiety if I don't indulge as I have constant anxiety and my interests help with the anxiety.
Yeah I get pissed off if I have to stop because of some mundane task and I've forgotten to do important stuff but I'm getting better at remembering.
I'm not really interested in sharing my experiences , I do tell my GF about interesting posts here relating to ASD but I know she's not that interested sometimes and i can tell when it starts to bore her ( sometimes I dont care though and tell her anyway because it is important to me) .


Edit: I just told my GF about this thread and what I posted and she said I'm full of s**t. All those bullet points fit me to a T , I think I may have answered with only one special interest in mind and my GF said that isn't even my special interest - it's a hobby than I conveniently utilise my special interest while doing it :roll:


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Redxk
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17 Nov 2017, 3:03 am

It's whatever, at a given moment, I feel driven to be an expert or authority on. It can last for a few days to a few years, and sometimes I will come back to a particular interest after months or years. I feel safe when I'm wrapped up in one. Currently it's The Muppet Show.