Emotional attachment to objects - an AS thing?

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"Just now
A rock took fright
When it saw me
It escaped
By playing dead"

I'm emotionally attached to my drum sticks. That's just the way that I am.

i'm still upset about things i lost as a kid. it really upsets me to think about.

Tony Attwood talks about the importance of objects to people on the spectrum in this episode of Autism Hangout:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGcuxcPISzk[/youtube]

At times when I'm feeling really badly it does feel like the whole world 'dies' in a way. Or that I do, or at least that the two are separate from each other.

Haha! I have this. Except for the 'WTH' part, it always seems perfectly reasonable to me

When I was five my grandmother gave me one of these doll sets. It had a little 4 inch tall plastic doll and a horse, and camping stuff. She was a barbie-type doll, except she was a more sensible and I loved the idea of having a horse and camping wherever you wanted. I lost the horse and other stuff, but I played with her practically every day until I was about 11 or 12. I loved dolls houses and spent absolutely ages making things for it or rearranging it or talking to the doll (who never had a name) in the space between my wardrobe and the wall in the dark. Weird child! Well, we knew that Then one day someone from school came round, she rummaged in a drawer and brought out the doll and snapped her head off! I don't know why she did that, but I wasn't so angry. It set off another round of playing with her, except now she was an invalid. I don't even know where she is now. I guess that's the kind of attachment you're talking about though.

Also books that I've read a lot. I don't really like to get rid of things. Like my old windup clocked stopped one day, I have a new one, but I would feel bad getting rid of the other one. So I have two clocks on my table.

I feel quite attached to things I own too and have a hard time decluttering. This week we took three lots of old stuff to the local Salvation Army shop. We still have three other lots to deliver next week.

It is probably loneliness that made me turn to objects. It is like they don't mind being mine and that is just so good in a weird way. When a person doesn't have a living support group, he or she might just turn to his/her possessions. The objects (eg Gundam for some people) make him/her feel good and objects never oppose.

Can barely keep myself from wearing the same tshirt every single day. I have immense feelings for it.

I've always treated my stuff as if they were alive. At the age of 20 I still do.

The box that one of my favorite objects was wrapped in when it was new was mistaken for being garbage by my mom a few years ago and got thrown away. I think about it almost every day.

But anyway, my stuff brings happiness into my life. I don't want that to change.

For me, I think that with things, you can use them well, carry them with you, and shine them up/ care for them without being socially required to feel (or outwardly pretend to feel) something emotional about the transaction the way one is when people are involved.

Because there's no societal or interpersonal pressure involved, ironically enough, this makes it more likely for me to become attached to certain things. (Especially those that serve me well or that I've had for a long time.)

Also, when things disappoint (ie. break down/ stop working/ become uncleanable or obsolete) it may be very highly unpleasant but it isn't personal or malicious.

In my case, I'm very attached to my computers, my electronic devices, and my modular desk (a desk that I had been dreaming of for years). I enjoy "caring for them", doing upkeep, and keep the data (and in the case of my desk; things) on them organized.

I don't get emotionally attached to objects; I get attached to what they represent. I really need stability in my life, and I get that stability by insuring that my environment changes as little as possible. Every time that I throw something out, I lose a little bit.

I have a lot of old clothes that I should just throw out, but I keep it, because every article of clothing that I throw out makes me feel like I am just that much closer to having nothing to wear. It is an irrational fear, but it is there. Any time that I throw a book out, I have to fight the feeling that I just might want to read it once more, or that someone might ask me a question that the book could answer. Funny thing, I can easily throw out one edition of a book when I get a newer edition, as long as I am sure that the newer edition contains the same content as the older edition.

I can't say I was quite that extreme, but in my case, having no friends, I had to "invent" them. I had stuffed animals, and I gave each of them its own personality. For years, they were the only companions I had because kids were so mean to me that hardly anyone wanted to risk being a social outcast by associating with me.

At one point, when my grades were really suffering (due to the kids being so cruel to me), my parents took me to a psychologist to determined that since I had such a high IQ, it was simply a matter of my being lazy. His suggestion was to take away what I cared about and give them back once I brought my grades up.

So you can imagine what they took away from me....my only friends. I didn't throw a fit, but I remember crying over it, and I did get my grades up...if only to get my friends back. Nothing that quack ever suggested to my parents addressed why I was having trouble in school.

I have clothes older than you are.

I'm a borderline hoarder. I have a hard time throwing anything out. I'm especially attached to my books also - although I don't want to marry them.

That sounds familiar to me. My father often punished me by throwing away my favorite items. My mother would get rid of things that she thought that I didn't need or because she though I was too old for them. My sister would throw away things, because she thought that there was no reason for me to have them.

They didn't understand that I needed stability. I needed to have things as predictable as possible. So all of their well meaning, and not so well meaning, changes were extremely frustrating to me.

It's no surprise that I am now very protective of my property, to the extent that I would be considered a hoarder.

My parents came up with this solution on their own. It was harsh and painful. I remember my father constantly threatening to destroy everything related to my interest, which was really hard to cope with.

That psych was seriously unprofessional, though. He treated you as the problem, and didn't try to work out anything at all. Really horrible.

Well, Gundams that he put together himself? That sounds like a huge time investment. A time investment like that tends to take with it emotional investment. While I don't think I would burn my house down (not today anyway), I do understand having an intense emotional reaction. His mother was ill, and if he had an Autism spectrum disorder, then it's possible she did, too. His reaction would then seem to indicate that he was not informed of his condition and therefore never developed an emotional toolbox that would allow him to process and recover from such an extreme change.

you name is disney backwards? Sooo off topic sorry but it just hit me
I've always had attachment to inanimate objects, still uncertain if it's because of them for themselves or what they represent.