"Special Interests?"

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I've been doing a bit of research online lately and it's gotten me to thinking about this a lot more....

This is the part of the DSM-IV criteria for Asperger's that seems to deal with "special interests":

To me, the wording of this seems very clinical and very broad. I've been looking for personal accounts online to compare my own experiences to, and everything is just so all over the place that it's hard for me to understand.....

So, some of the things I've been wondering about, if anybody would like to share..... :

-What kinds of things are you interested in?

-Do you choose the things that you're interested in or is it more of an automatic attraction?

-How long do the interests last? A few hours? A week? Years?

-How much time do you devote to your interests?

-Has anyone ever had something (like a specific necklace, a rock, or a stuffed animal) that was a "special interest" rather than a topic or subject?

I hope this makes sense...I've been all over the place and kind of jumbled lately; it's been more difficult for me to organize my thoughts than it usually is.....

Thanks

Hm.

So, I like cats, to the point that basically the only thing I can talk about well is my own cat. I could talk about her all day. It's hard to get me to change the subject. Granted, my conversations about her are scripted, and you have to follow the scripts or I get upset... but yes, all cats all the time.

I also like Food Network. Now, as you might see if you go looking around, I eat about 15-20 things total... both due to textural and health restraints. So, to be obsessed with food is rather odd. The Food Network is on from wake up to bedtime in my apartment, and if the usual schedule gets changed, I melt.

Finally, I like to play Scrabble/Words with Friends. I'm obsessed. I'm playing ten games right now on my iPod. I add up the points all sorts of words are worth and study word lists to try to get the most points. I'm obsessed.

Mostly mechanical things. All of my interests have been science/technology related, the only exception being AS.



It's almost entirely uncontrollable.



Some have lasted for several years, others come and go on a weekly and monthly basis. The more specific an interest is, the shorter it lasts. The ones that are very broad are the ones that span periods of many years.



99% of my free time, which is probably around 40-50 hours a week at the minimum.



Not really. I've had certain video games as special interests before, but everything else tends to be entirely intellectual in nature.

Last edited by SammichEater on 10 Aug 2011, 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Certain books or authors, certain bands or types of music, certain science subjects. I can be more specific if needed. I latch onto one or two movies, one or two books or authors, one or two bands, one or two subjects, and focus on them more than anything else.



B.



C.



Hours. I get utterly lost and don't realize how much time has passed.



Not really, although I've had "object attachment" before, i.e., always feeling a need to have an object in your hands.

Math, Mathematical logic, history and philosophy of math; kindles and ebooks; certain books and authors; turtles; History and Culture of Finland; AS to some degree lately


Automatic attraction



Years. I've probably been describable as having a special interest in math for pretty much my entire life, the other things related to math came later. Kindles I've had to that level since I got a kindle in 2009, so that's been two years. Books have actually changed, but books that are no longer special interest are still some of my favorite books. I started studying Finland in 2009 when my Finnish grandmother died. Turtles have been a special interest for the past decade.



It varies, but as a whole I lose track of time. I spend too much time online reading and participating in forums.



Not that I'd consider a special interest, but I do have very strong attachment to items.

While you haven't asked it, the other question I'd add into those are whether you can predict special interests. For me I can to some degree but not completely. I strongly suspect that when I have income I will immediately drop into kayaks being a special interest of mine. I already have kayaking as my stress relief mechanism, but I think that I'll end up doing things like studying all the different designs, the mechanics of the water, and such. This is because while I'm trying to push it off now, as soon as I have income I'll have the ability to build myself a kayak, and even though I already know the design I want to build and how much it'll cost, I expect I'll want to know everything about them.

I am interested in the internet, animals, meteorology, politics, religion, literature, and anything whatsoever to do with harry potter.

my whole day is devoted to my interests and researching them. I don't work and am disabled by bipolar.

the interests last sometimes for a decade or more.

I have had knives, swords, and other weapons that were things that were interests.

It really centers on technology, so I have a broad spectrum of interests right there in front of me.



It's very uncontrollable. I can choose if I'm interested or not, but the special interest has to be presented in front of me.



So far for me, my interests have lasted years.



As much time as I can squeeze in.



Not really.

My interests vary nowadays. I used to have one singular special interest (Presidents of the U.S., specifically John F. Kennedy), but once my need and yearning for all of that knowledge faded after building an encyclopedic database of U.S. Presidents in my brain, I stopped checking out all the books, reading all the websites, etc. I can't really explain why I stopped being so immersed in that interest, but it just happened. It was time to move on.
But back on track to my life now, I have always been very interested in the concept of language. So, naturally, once I learned about other languages when I was a very small child, I was hooked. I am very into linguistics... I am learning two languages at this time.
Also, music, literature, philosophy, genetics, current events, history, Presidents (somewhat), science, humans, and some computer-related things are interesting to me. I go through very short phases where I am interested in subcategories or events that pertain to those topics (and some more, even, but they're all hard to think of at the moment.)
I like a lot of things now, but they are usually atypical for my age.



Feel like I'd lecture about that, so next Q.



Depends. Some last a few hours, whereas my Presidents interest lasted from age 4-5 to when I was around 13.



A lot.



I liked to collect ラムネ bottles for some time because I like how they're structured. However, most were thrown away and only a few remain: one of each of the flavors that have been purchased. (Except for Original, because my mom thought that "Melon" was the same as "Original", which means that the first one I ever bought was thrown away. But it's fine.)

If you see this, we can exchange screen names at some point as I also really like that game.
Their "Hanging with Friends" is good, too.

-What kinds of things are you interested in?


Books, writing, music, drawing, movies, art, house blueprints, animals (dogs esp.), stuffed animals, foreign languages, linguistics, travel, time travel, theories concerning the nature of existence, cognitive science.


-Do you choose the things that you're interested in or is it more of an automatic attraction?

Automatic attraction.


-How long do the interests last? A few hours? A week? Years?

Years, most lifelong, but specific subinterests may vary by the hour.


-How much time do you devote to your interests?
ALL MY TIME! I don't do anything without wondering why the hell I'm here and what exactly I'm doing so that covers my "theories on the nature of existence" special interest as well as its corollaries writing, music, art, cognitive science, etc.


-Has anyone ever had something (like a specific necklace, a rock, or a stuffed animal) that was a "special interest" rather than a topic or subject?

Stuffed animals, especially Popples and Care Bears. I still have dreams where the "prize" at the end of the mission I'm on is a box of Care Bears and Popples I never owned in real life.

I like earrings a lot too but I doubt more than the average earring-loving NT.

-What kinds of things are you interested in?

I've been quite obsessed with the history of Christianity since I was nine years old--not biblical, but actual history since I'm an atheist. I'm obsessed with Mesopotamia history as well. The aesthetics of old cars and the modern study of osteology. I love and worship: both cultural and physical anthropology. And the my favorite, PHOTOGRAPHY. I think in my speech class, four of my speeches were about film photography. Photography is probably a trick people use to get me to talk to them, because I never shut up about it. I own several SLRs, a DSLR, and a Holga. Building up my collection--let me shut up now.

-Do you choose the things that you're interested in or is it more of an automatic attraction?

I do what feels good. The things make me feel good, I cannot explain why or how. They just do and I cannot live without them.

-How long do the interests last? A few hours? A week? Years?

Anthropology and old cars is a new thing for me. History has always been an interest of mine and photography has been with me for 6yrs. On and off, I liked reading about other religions, but that's still history. Anthropology can be considered history too, so I guess I have loved all of my interests for an infinite amount of time.

-How much time do you devote to your interests?

Not enough.

-Has anyone ever had something (like a specific necklace, a rock, or a stuffed animal) that was a "special interest" rather than a topic or subject?

No. If it's a special interest then it relates to one of my interests. Like a necklace of a skeleton relates to my love for anthropology.

I'd like to say beforehand that I have problems defining the "special interest" and that I don't know if my obsessions really count as special interest.

I usually get obsessed with games (often the strategy related to them) or statistics. AS is probably my most recent obsession. Dinosaurs was my first one, and I love nature documentaries in general and try to know as much about animals as possible. I also have a bit of a lifelong interest in writing a fantasy book (which is still mostly in my head) and designing a good game which simulates evolution (Spore may have been the biggest disappointment of my life). My most long-term obsession is Magic: the Gathering.



Totally automatic.



Strategy obsessions usually last until I've "solved" the game or feel like I'm good enough. Statistics obsessions usually last until I've worked out the perfect way to keep statistics...at which point I find myself unable to keep them. Dinosaurs lasted for a long time and I still love them, as I do nature, so that's lifelong I guess. Magic has been a special interest of mine for the past 6-7 years.



Most of my free time and probably more of my non-free time than I should.



Not really. I mean, I keep statistics of stuff I have and also of specific video games (for a while, I even kept track of how long I played individual video games), but that's about it.

Currently? Psychology, especially autism, psychopathy and social psychology. And World of Warcraft. And vampires and other supernatural creatures, especially ghosts (though I hate most ghost stories) and emotion eaters.

Past obsessions have included cats, the rainforest, drug addiction, disability adaptations (especially sign language and Braille), endangered languages, poverty and war in third world countries, bats, rare MCA/MR syndromes, Animorphs, the number 9 and the colour purple. Not in chronological order.



I don't really choose it, though at times I've found several things I could become interested in and cultivated one in particular. I do this especially with TV shows.



TV show obsessions last until I've watched all episodes, unless I lose interest (generally because an episode really annoyed me). Game obsessions last until I'm close to wrapping the game (gamer slang for completing everything you can complete) and then I can't be bothered to actually finish everything. Book obsessions last until I've finished the series, unless something annoys me about one of the books and then they end earlier.

Other obsessions that lack a clear ending can last for months to years. Various topics of psychology have been an obsession since I was 10 or so, making that my longest lasting obsession so far. And even once I lose interest in an obsession of this kind I can always have fun going back to it for a bit, and sometimes rekindle the pbsession completely.



Most of every day, unless I have other plans. Even then I tend to think about the interest a lot while I'm doing something else.



Nope. I'm sure others have, but not me. Though I do often carry around an object related to my obsession. When I was interested in the rain forest I had a toy monkey I carried everywhere with me, for example. But I was only interested in the monkey because he related to my obsession with the rainforest.

Anime and everything having to do with Japan, which started when I was very young and has been ongoing ever since. However it did go on hiatus for about a year and a half (January of last year to August of this year) when I had developed an obsession with Tim Burton's movies and the actors/actresses associated with them.

I have been obsessed with many different anime series over the years. This time it's anime/manga focusing on the Shinsengumi, who were real-life historical figures. My favorites are Peacemaker Kurogane and Hakuoki Shinsengumi Kitan. I also plan on reading Kaze Hikaru.

In addition to anime/Japan, I have also had a lifelong interest in arts and crafts. I love drawing, sewing and making jewelery. My arts and crafts always invariably tie in to my special interests. So when I get obsessed with an anime, I will draw my favorite character over and over until I can draw him (it's almost always a male character) and every detail of his hair/clothes from memory. And I will at some point attempt to sew a plush doll of him too, and make a bottlecap necklace with an image of him on it.



For the most part it's automatic. Though in the case of my current interest regarding the Shinsengumi, it was a mild interest I had and I kind of nurtured it until it became a full-blown obsession.



My interest in anime and Japan in general has been more or less a lifelong thing. But obsessions regarding specific anime series typically last between 6 months to 3 years, and I never go back to obsessing over something once I'm finished with it (Peacemaker Kurogane has been the sole exception so far, and that might not even count since I technically wasn't obsessed with it before).

Obsessions with other things besides anime have never lasted very long. Typically they will only last a few hours or days. The longest non-anime obsession I've ever had was Tim Burton's movies, and that lasted a year and a half.



Any part of the day that isn't taken up by posting on WP, visiting with family, running errands or sleeping. (I'm on disability so I don't work, and I don't go to college either.)



No, although like many people on the spectrum, I do become very attached to certain objects. For example, it is very difficult for me to fall asleep without my bean sac or stuffed polar bear.

Music is always present. I also get interested in topics that I can study: at the moment, mathematics, linguistics (which is a long-term interest), particle physics, cosmology (which are also both shaping up into long-term interests.). I also get brief interests in things like collective nouns, classifications of various things, etc.



It's automatic.



Anywhere between a few hours and the rest of my life. On average, the ones that aren't music are present for a few weeks at a time, and they tend to return after absences.



Well... I have to sleep, but I often dream about them; my job is related to my primary interest; I think about my interests in the shower... pretty much all my time is dedicated to them in some way.



Not that I can recall.

Obsessions or special intrests will always be my strongest autistic trait.

What kinds of things are you interested in?
My obsessions have always been animal related. I don't think my obsessions have ever been with spefic people or random inamate objects.


-Do you choose the things that you're interested in or is it more of an automatic attraction?
Automatic attraction


-How long do the interests last? A few hours? A week? Years?
Life

-How much time do you devote to your interests?
All of my time

-Has anyone ever had something (like a specific necklace, a rock, or a stuffed animal):
As a kid, yes.