can you have special interests without having aspergers?

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hi,

I tend to go through obsessions with things quite often, lasting up to about 6 months each time, my friends and parents have mentioned it and my obsessions are not like other peoples interests from what i have seen. when im obsessed with something its all i think about and I only want to do things that relate to my obsession, sometimes i get too lost in an obsession and get anxious, for example its been snowing recently and i have been obsessed with snow from quite an early age, the weather said it would then it did not which really made me upset and angry, then it snowed and i was staring at it every 5 min and woke up about 5 times in the night to look outside the window, the snow started melting and i came out of the obsessive like state and have been quite anxious and low for the last 5 days since the snow stopped, i feel lost.

I dont feel i have particular problems socially, i am an introvert and prefer solitary activities but i would not describe myself as having any obvious social problems. do you think this could be aspergers?

thanks

I don't know if it is AS but to answer your question in the title- yes. Just watch an episode of antiques roadshow and you will see a bunch of NT appraisers who have intense lifelong interests in specific things.

yes thats certainly true, i have seen the antiques road show. really im just wondering why it causes me to get depressed when i have no obsession, i honestly have no idea myself, it could just be coincidence. i love these emoticons, so many to choose from.

The thread title made me laugh.

I don't know if this is what you're referring to, but I just now realised that one can indeed have ASD-specific 'special interests' without having Asperger syndrome, if one has autistic disorder ot PDD-NOS for example.

But yes, I would agree that having interests or hobbies in which one can get fully absorbed (even to the point the OP describes), is not something that's only encountered in autistics. It's perhaps a common phenomenon in many people's lives.

However, I think one should perhaps distinguish a 'special interest' as it relates to ASDs, from other types of intense interests. I do believe that the way we process the world around us as autistics, is what influences how we pursue our special interests. If I can speak for myself, I know that an important aspect of each of my interests is to find a certain amount of comfort, solace, and also to blow off steam. To find an anchor, something that I can both enjoy and makes sense to me. Now, while to an extent this may also be true for 'regular' hobbies or interests that people may have, I personally feel that the aspect of my interests being a kind of 'abstract safe haven' for me, in which I can mentally withdraw (even when they involve activities, and not just reading), is a manifestation of my autism.

But that's what I think. What do you think?

This is one of my (admittedly numerous) pet peeves. Why is it "weird" or "unusual" or even "a symptom" for people to have "special" interests? (Apologies for the scare quotes.) NTs are often at least as obsessive about stuff as anyone here, they just often tend to be interested in a more narrow field of socially-circumscribed topics.

Example A: A former co-worker of mine was completely obsessed with scrapbooking. She seemed to spend all of her free time and most of her money on this hobby. She talked about it constantly and even wore shirts proclaiming her interest in it. She went to scrapbooking conventions and most of her close friends seemed to be fellow scapbookers. I had never even heard of scrapbooking before I met her, but no one else thought it was unusual that she would be so obsessed with it. This woman is, in all other respects, the embodiment of everything we think of as NT. But for some reason, scrapbooking was deemed an acceptable interest for a woman of her age and social circumstance.

Example B: The husband of an NT friend of my wife's is fully and completely obsessed with his college football team. He has a room in their house dedicated to paraphernalia and knick-knacks related to the team, and he attends every home game, even though he graduated years ago and the university is several hundred miles from their house. His devotion to the team and collecting artifacts rivals or surpasses any of my interests. But no in American society thinks anything of it, because college football is a completely acceptable "special interest" for men in our culture.

On the other hand, people think it's bizarre that I study dead languages for fun, because most people don't do that.

i can understand why you may find that annoying, and i would not be asking the question if it were not for the anxiety that happens, also the speed in which i lose interest in the thing i was obsessed with, its actually upsetting because i miss the interest that i seem to suddenly become indifferent about.

Well there are several possibilities:

- ASD (AS, HFA, PDD-NOS)
- BAP (broad autism phenotype)
- OCD/OPD (you are writing about "obsession" but having a special interest would be untypical, but maybe some relation to it)
- ADHD/ADD (I read that they can also special interests sometimes)
- NT with hobbies (dunno how "abnormal" your behaviour is to put it this way...!)

I know lots of NTs with special interests -- usually either women, alcohol, or football.

My brother has special interests and isn't autistic.

I've also heard it's extremely common in gifted/talented kids. In fact, the vast majority talented kids (defined as normal abilities plus one area way above normal) probably have an unusually strong interest in the area they're talented in.

Yay! Generalizing at it's finest.( I really do use sarcasm a lot)

Probably not in the way as it's defined in Asperger's.

An intense interest is normal though.

Hey, just remember that this is something everyone does. What mattters is the degree. To your intrests completely consume all your time? Do they adversely effect your life in any way?
I really would not worry about the special intrest part of it. BTW, my first love, dinosaurs, actually taught me how to read at a very advanced level. So its not always negative, even if it is ASD facet.

Sincerely,
Matthew

Yes you can have a special interest without having AS. Some NTs even get a career in their special interest too.

Same here.

I think an NT person would be more easily able to detach from an interest if he or she had other things to attend to and still feel okay with life. For instance, if the scrapbooker suddenly lost half her income and couldn't afford scrapbooking supplies, it wouldn't be the end of the world.