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Does anyone not have a 'special interest'?

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renaeden
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11 May 2017, 6:45 am

To be honest, I haven't had a special interest in a long time. I think it's due to taking antidepressants. They kill obsessions or rather, dull it down.

Past special interests have included skeletons and anatomy, tennis (that one was huge), psychology, autism (surprised?) And ADHD. I'm studying IT at the moment and though I enjoy learning about computers, they're not an obsession for me.



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11 May 2017, 2:15 pm

Moccu wrote:
I'm liking everyone's replies so far, and I don't think general interests or intense hobbies have to be labelled as a 'special interest', as everyone has a passion for something to some extent.

I remember when going to some social anxiety group for a few months (never gone back, UGH), people were asked to bring in some type of special interest to show and talk about (what is this, kindergarten?), and I found that I didn't really have anything to show for that- and found it kind of a forceful and unnecessary thing to expect from the group.

It seems like a stereotype to HAVE to have a special interest that you have no control of oversharing to others. I did not like the group counsellor at all for making everyone do that, and for other reasons too. I really cannot stand the majority of counsellors available, a lot of them seem to undermine the intelligence and diversity of others.


Well, the way I feel about my interests is that they are very personal, and I am well aware that most people do not share my passion. I think anyone would feel the same about their hobby, even if it's just a hobby and not a special interest. After, isn't it part of the definition of a hobby (or should be) that a person does it to take a bit of a break from the world? I like to talk about my interests, but when I feel like it and when I'm genuinely excited about something, not when Nanny says it's ok.


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11 May 2017, 2:22 pm

At a certain point, I quit describing it, but it gets *much more narrow. I appreciate that people have a limited amount of patience, and I more than exceed their bandwidth. I try not to engage people, too much, when they are not in an obvious position to be helpful.



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11 May 2017, 2:39 pm

I don't believe I have a 'special' interest at the moment, but there have been phases in my life where I have focused predominately on one or two things. For instance, I used to be intensely interested in the nu metal band, Korn, and Manchester City football club to the point where nothing else seemingly existed in the world. Now, however, I occasionally listen to Korn's music and watch all of Man City's matches, but the intensity of the interest has certainly dropped.


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Synic
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11 May 2017, 3:35 pm

I don't really have any special interests for the moment. I like reading about history but it's not really an obsession. I find it a bit odd because I used to be fascinated by things like Star Wars, certain video games and later on some metal subgenres.

I've read that special interests sometimes disappear in aspies when they get older (see the link).

https://spectrumnews.org/opinion/repeti ... tism-does/



shyteddy
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12 May 2017, 7:30 am

Kiriae wrote:
I have intense interests but no special interest.

When something catches my attention I will hyperfocus, obsess and talk about it (for any amount of time from minutes to months or even years) till I solve the problem/know all there is to know about it/get pissed off by it/get pissed by people expecting me to find a job related to it/get pissed by being considered an expert but not considering myself an expert(I make mistakes, I am not sure about some stuff and there are people who know more about the topic than I do = I am not an expert so people should stop call me one and expect me to know everything).
Then I drop it and sit idle(doing whatever, browsing the net, playing random games), ready for a next prompt.


Erm, forgive me, but I thought that's what Special interests were... short intense interests that consume one's focus entirely and are the only things you can really think about. You're telling me you have interests you hyperfocus on for YEARS but you don't consider them "Special Interests"? Why? If that's the case than what exactly is a special interest?