No special interests

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Anyone else here been diagnosed without an obsessive subject? My parents are quite clear now that I never had narrow interests, nor any of the other repetitive and ritual behaviours listed under part 2 of the DSM-IV criteria for AS. Seems like I was diagnosed mostly on social anxiety and some priors of antisocial behaviour.

Is this common? Or am I describing PDD-NOS?

If thats the only thing I'm missing from AS then that really blows! Isnt it the main pro to the condition? That I can at least do ONE thing well? bleh

was there nothing at all that you really got excited about?

Of course there was! But every kid has things that excite them. But none of my interests were 'obsessive' according to my parents. I'd often switch between things and if something did get my attention it wouldn't last more than a few weeks. They were all 'normal' things too, like Lego for example.

They said they were surprised when they looked at the diagnostic criteria and saw it was one of the main parts. Now I'm really confused

Well, diagnostic criteria is more of a, "If the individual has 60% or more of the aspects in the diagnosis, then he/she can be classified in this group." For example, there was a test i took for an autism support group in this state. It was about various things, typically asking about my attitude, opinion, or emotional given a certain question. The base score for autists on this test was 32 or higher. I scored a 31, so because it was so close, it was labeled that i was in the HFA/AS category (mild autism). So. you may not have an obsessive interest (or have not been exposed to something you consider stimulating enough to obsess over), but your other traits are likely the real kicker (lack of social skills, not looking someone in the eye when talking, etc.). Personally, id say if you found something to be stimulating, relaxing, and its something you tend to do a lot, then that is your obsession. For example, i tend to get this "high" when i come across a random science/math application, various games (typically strategy or RPG), and several others. Guss you could say i obsess over making my mind work on various concepts, theories, or anything related. Information is my stim.

I used to have 'special interests' when i was a kid (snails, dinosaurs, snakes... whatever) but now i don't. Now i'm an adult i've grown out of 'special interests'- i'm interested in a broad range of subjects; sociology, politics, music, arts, religion, technology, literature, sexuality etc.

If you don't have obsessive interests or other kind of repetive behaviours, you don't have Asperger's Syndrome and probably any ASD.

However, I remember that, in another thread, you said that you prefer predictable things, or something like that (or I am confusing with someone else?). Perhaps this could be considered "adherence to non-functional routines"?

A question - what you mean by "antisocial behaviour"?

I don't really have 'obsessive' interests; not when you think of the DJ who knows almost everything about all the music of the last 30-40 years. If you fit the other criteria, or enough of them, you probably do have Asperger's!

Is it possible that you have a lot of repetitive behaviors that you simply don't realize you do?

My parents overlooked my obsessions about things, and STILL do today, even though I'm 29 now. To others, I wouldn't think I'd really appear to have many obsessive interests or anything, but things to tend to creep up from time to time....

I'll go months sometimes without really having a particular thing I do... but then once it starts up... for instance, a few years ago, I did bead sorting. Okay, not such a big deal to sort all of your beads one time if you're into crafts and all, of course... but my thing was, I NEVER used them for anything. I would sort them all-and it would literally take days or weeks sometimes, and I would dump them all out back into a bin and start sorting them all over again. I actually found it highly entertaining... but IGNORED a lot of things around me while I was doing it.

I've gotten into video games lately too-mainly World of Warcraft. I'm obsessed with, well, in the game there are professions... and I don't care so much for the game, but for skilling up my professions, maxing them out, learning everything I can in them.... then dropping them and starting up a new one. A lot of people get obsessed with that game... but I'm not sure how typical it actually is to be obsessed with just the one aspect of the game to the extent that I am.

Anyway, I've never had any main interest as far as... well, I guess knowledgeable things. I've never gotten into reading about anything, or researching so much. I'm so screwed in the real world, lol... can't even carry on a conversation without bringing up world of warcraft at some point right now, and haven't done much as far as housework in.... well, quite a while now. I really need to, but can't make it a priority.

Do you do anything at all... that wouldn't be so much of "knowing everything about a single subject", but moreso something you indulge in way more than you should that prevents you from doing things that need to be done in every day life?

This is an interesting statement. It's been said that a lot of female aspies are not diagnosed because our interests are not as esoteric as those of male aspies. For example, a young aspie girl might be obsessed with horses, however, all of her female classmates really like horses as well, so her AS might be obscured. However, I don't see why a male aspie couldn't have more "normal" special interests as well.

Yes, either your repetitive/obsessive symptoms are mild or easily pass for normal; or you're just PDD-NOS. That's not too surprising; autism is very diverse and there are many people who don't fit one or the other aspect of it. Which is why most people who are diagnosed with autism are diagnose PDD-NOS. Ironically, PDD-NOS is atypical autism... when it really ought to be "typical autism", as it's the biggest group! If you're autistic, it's not only normal to be weird--it's normal to be weird even for an autistic person!

Eh I always collected things a lot. I always wonder if that is an ASD specific thing, to obsessively collect lots of one thing. I collected buttons and scented erasers, stickers, even woodlice at one time.

I myself often wonder, do non ASD people get obsessive interests and what would count as an obsessive interest?

For example, I was interested in Harry Potter for 4 years, to a point everything I did and found joy in was Harry Potter related... I watched it, read it, talked it, roleplayed it, wrote it and hunted ebay for it and got a sense of safety from it... but could an NT with OCD get a similar obsessive interest?

I've always had obsessions but I have always done other things. I didn't sit and watch my Disney Sing Along video all day when I was two just so I can hear "heigh Ho" or watch Winnie the Pooh all day when I was three, etc but I did watch them all the time and I wore both those videos out. My mom replaced the sing along video and winnie the pooh and my grandma bought me alice in wonderland, I also wore that out too and it was on a recorded tape, same as Winnie the Pooh. I'm surprised I didn't wear out Home Alone but I wore out Jurassic park after having it not for long and my dad fixed it. I wore out parts in 101 Dalmatians but never wore out A League of Their Own. My mom claims I was obsessed with Barbies and played with them all the time but I still did other things.

I do have obsessions but don't stay with them all day. They are in my head. I used to look my obsessions up online but the same old information gets old, same as pictures so I don't as much like I used to. That's why I don't read about AS much because it's old. I prefer to read memiors about it by family members or the ones who have it. Now that never gets old because every aspie/autie is different and come in their own package. If there was a whole book on Benny & Joon and how it was made, I would buy it. There would be a lot of new information in it I have never read, same as Spokane. I don't see much books about it.

Yep, I think I said that. Yet my parents are telling me it wasn't really strict, and probably related to my anxiety. The words "non-functional" jump out at me there, and I don't think I could have ever been described as that. I was always fairly easily distracted from whatever interesting thing I was doing. I didn't have strict routines around the home and I was fairly flexible unless something involved a completely new situation but even then I would usually do whatever it was. I mainly get nervous now if I'm going to something where I don't know anyone at all, or if people are below my age range. Right now I have interests, yes. But none would be viewed by anyone as more than a hobby (which everyone has)

By antisocial behaviour I mean I was badly behaved in primary school. But usually I got into mischief with others, not just by myself.

I probably do have AS. Everything so far has gone so wrong that's impossible for me to not have it. Im 25 and heading nowhere. And where else would the anxiety come from??

But I cant identify with this stuff at all, barring things i did during extreme boredom (not often). None of these interests you guys are saying ring a bell I've even played world of warcraft a bit and it just can't hold my attention for too long. I'm like the only person who CAN'T get addicted to it!

Special interests can be things that interest other people too, they don't have to be obscure things.

When I was younger I was the worst in my class in primary school at reading because all I cared about was dinosaurs, once someone figured this out and gave me books on dinosaurs to read I ended up at the top of my class reading wise by the end of primary school. Alot of other kids liked dinosaurs too, they just didn't block out everything else.

During high school I was obsessed with an old RTS online game, again computer games are a normal hobby for teenage kids - the other kids didn't spend 12+ hours a day playing a 10 year old game and then spending all their time at school thinking up tactics for it though.

RTS game around 10 years old? Wouldn't be Starcraft would it? I wonder how many Korean kids would be marked down as obsessive because of that game!

Nope, some terribly made star trek game with maybe 20 active players.