aspies without an obsession

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are there any diagnosed aspies who never in their lives had an obsession?
because i dont have one and never did. i stim, have face blindness, rage attacks, difficulties making friends, ocd, lousy motor skills, a faraway look in my eyes, noise anxiety, adhd etc.
those of you who dont have an obsession, is your syndrome mild?
it would be nice to have an obsession. this way you spend your days doing something that fascinate you. it's a gift to make up for whatever it is we're missing.

sorry, didnt mean to post it twice. i was trying to change the poll's options. damn. i hate computers.

I have had many obsessions. I haven't been diagnosed, but if I have Asperger's, it is fairly mild.

However, obsessions are not required for a diagnosis. The DSM-IV requires at least one of the following:

(A) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus (obsessions would fall under this item)
(B) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
(D) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

I think the DSM-V, which will tentatively come into use next year, required at least two items on the list but also adds sensory issues to the list of possible symptoms.

I never had an obsession until I was about 15. Looking back, that's around the time that I became very depressed. I suspect that because I was so depressed and anhedonic, when I became even slightly interested in something I just took it too far. I wasn't able to keep it at a "healthy" level. I needed a focus in my life so badly that I went overboard.

I have some obsessions. For example, I may have issues with my work, because thunderstorms near my place distract me. I just HAVE TO observe them. If I observe some symptoms of developing thunderstorm, then I can't focus properly on my tasks, because I tend to think only about thunderstorms. They work like pills causing ADHD

You wouldn't technically have [prototypical] Asperger's.

They'd probably say PDD-NOS.

I've never had an obsession before. I joke and say that I'm obsessed with something that I really like, but I have too many interets to have an obsession. Plus, only focusing on one interest bores me. I like to change things up.

Really, I don't really find myself that obssessed with things, and I have a ton of interests, but I guess I'm a bit more obsessive than most people, and one thing we need to keep in mind is perspective bias: We have a different take on ourselves than the people around us.

I might never wrap my head around what an obsession is.

Forgetting to eat about pursuing an interest? No.

Resisting to be interested in something else of reason and importance? No.

Doing nothing but what I am interested in? Well, yes, but I'm interested in and motivated for whatever I consider advantageous and I am naturally resistant towards types of authority trying to play their illusion of power.

Not going to sleep early enough because I am so engrossed in an awesome book? Sure. I will have to set myself a deadline and I will keep to it. Unless something outrageous happens and I will have to keep reading until my eyes water from reading and my hands tire from holding the book.

That's no different from how non-autistic people my age pursue their interests as well.

So, I will assume that I do not have a special interest.

Instead, I meet all the other criteria listed under repetitive behaviours. Stims and routines/trouble with the unexpected, this "persistent occupation with parts of objects" although I'd say it's less an intentional preoccupation but a hint at sensory processing issues. I don't have much love for shoes that I'd intentionally stare at the sole and pay attention to it but I can't help but notice, these detail jumps at me, I can't not-notice and consider the pattern on it pretty (if it is) even if I tried.

Oddly, during my first diagnostic process for AS, the special interest was the most important thing and they kept looking for it. I was also still quite oblivious of what routines and stims really are and their brief description made it all sound pointless and idiotic and nothing like they really are. Even hand-flapping sounded nothing like hand-flapping, so of course I agreed that I did not do something as what they asked me about.

I don't know how to answer whether I am mild or not.

Mild compared to what is often considered mild on WP - maybe not so much.

Mild as defined by ASD specialists I deal(t) with - I am mild or more preferably, as that's what those people say to my face about what they think I must be, "utmost high-functioning".

Maybe it helps more if I refer to what the person who knows me quite best from the outside said once, hardly a year ago. That my disability means that I need supervision/surveillance in normal matters of everyday life well beyond of what's typical for someone my age.

Copy/paste from other thread: Really, I don't really find myself that obssessed with things, and I have a ton of interests, but I guess I'm a bit more obsessive than most people, and one thing we need to keep in mind is perspective bias: We have a different take on ourselves than the people around us.

Also, as Rachel said it isn't required for diagnosis.

Technically I'm not dx'd with AS, though I think I have a mild form of it actually, not PDD-NOS. I think I was always a bit more obsessive than most other people. This obsessiveness does not always result to excessive special interests, as I have pronounced ADHD traits, too. For example, I liked to play with and listen to an old reel-to-reel tape recorder since I was about 2 yo, and this obsession lasted for decades. In my teenage years, it has happened a few times that my mother was unable to move me away from a home computer when I was programming it or playing on it, forgetting everything else.

I think some of the differences between an ASD interest and a normal person's interest include this propensity to exclude normal life activities or to keep forgetting about them. An NT would know how to handle everyday activities while dealing with their interests / hobbies, while an ASD person would do it just for the sake of doing something and have pleasure from it, not realizing there are other important things in life that also need attention and focus. Autistic inertia might also play a role in it.

I never used to have obsessions when I was a small child, only 'til I got to about 11. I had interests as a child, but they were just general interests, and also they were mainstream fads, like most typical kids.

When I was about 11 onwards, I started getting obsessions with people, wanting to find out everything about them, wanting to be noticed by them, wanting to be part of their lives, wanting to know everything about them, wanting to talk non-stop about them, wanting to be them. And I'm still like it to this day (only over different people of course, not the same people as when I was 11).

But my obsessions have always been around social interaction, and the social world. I've never been obsessed with objects or films, etc. It's always been about people. (Is this normal for an Aspie???????)

I have had very intense interests in the past, but not any at the moment.

According to my mother I have always been obsessed but not when I was a small child. She often contradicts herself because she told me I was obsessed with my Barbies when I was little but for me I never saw it as an obsession, I just saw it as something I enjoyed doing. I guess my mother is obsessed with reading by her logic and home and gardening and decorating since she does those things all the time. Then she says I was not obsessed when I was a small child.

But my obsessions do come and go. I have had periods where I had no obsessions and it gets depressing. Even when I do get obsessed with normal things, I get intense with it and focus on it for hours and take it to extreme. But to me it's normal. If people make a fuss about me knowing a lot about something, then I know I went too far with it lol.

I've never met an Aspie without obsessions in real life; but some of them have had obsessions that are pretty "normal"-seeming, like the little girl who loves horses or the young man who is fascinated with a video game. These are abnormal in intensity only, and it might seem until you thought about it that they didn't have obsessions.

But I'm pretty sure that with autism being so diverse, there are people who truly don't have obsessions and are still on the spectrum. They'd be unusual cases, but it's not like unusual cases are exactly uncommon. Every case seems to be unusual in one way or another.

I have 'negative obsessions' ; things which I really reeeaaally don't want to do, or think about. Ironically, they're often things I used to be interested in but have dragged on too long. Sucks when it's part of work!