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Joe90
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01 Jan 2020, 6:09 pm

Do most Aspies/autistics with obsessions talk excessively about it because you are unaware that the listener is bored, or is it an impulsive urge that is hard to resist?

I haven't had an obsession for a few years, but when I was a teenager I had an obsession that took over my mind so severely that talking nonstop about it was like scratching an itch.
I was fully aware that others were bored but I just found it hard to fight the urge to talk about my obsession.

Is/was this the same with anyone else on the spectrum? Is this the real reason why we talk nonstop about our obsessions/special interests? Because it was in my case.


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kraftiekortie
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01 Jan 2020, 6:10 pm

I couldn’t stop talking about the capitals of the world when I was a kid.



Edna3362
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01 Jan 2020, 6:59 pm

I, for one, almost never talk about my special interests or even obsessions. Not as a child, not as a teen and still not as an adult.

Whether or not I was socially aware that it bores others (unlikely actually), I'd rather keep it to myself.
Not because I was 'shy', it's because I seriously just prefer keeping things to myself than spreading it around no matter how great and and awesome it is.

If it just comes to special interests, I just don't usually do words. I don't spout words, I don't hoard terms...
In certain interests, I can limit myself to that because it's all my time and resources can grant me.



Got the same usual itch and intrusions, but not the same expressions.
As for any new urges to dig in different directions that came along with time; I barely got a new one since around 2 years ago or so.

Sometimes my life long special interests just halt for months end -- it's driving me into boredom.

Yet I sort of figured why any obsessive urge hadn't come to me; it's not because I've been more repressive or apathetic, it's because I've been running empty. If I wasn't mentally exhausted in some ways, I get certain ideas in my head that are intense, can lasts, and can wisely implemented.
This certain fatigue can disable the autistic urge to focus and stay there -- even a narrow or a rigid one. One of the reasons why I want this case of mine fixed.


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TwilightPrincess
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01 Jan 2020, 7:13 pm

I had a similar experience as far as feeling an irresistible urge to talk (and talk and talk) about a special interest. This was a problem up until my early 20’s.

I tried to only talk to people who were at least somewhat interested in the topic.



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01 Jan 2020, 8:35 pm

Same here--I used to be really bad about it, and still fall into chattering on and on about it. One time it got so bad that I picked up the phone and made some calls and very nearly bought a 1925 Ford.


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01 Jan 2020, 8:39 pm

I don't think it is a problem. It is other people who think it is a problem.


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Angnix
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01 Jan 2020, 8:41 pm

I tend to only talk excessively about birds if someone brings up the subject...

When I was little I tried to insert birds into everything...


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01 Jan 2020, 8:44 pm

Many autistic people are non-verbal or selective mute, so they don't talk obsessively about their interests. I'm in the second group. I'll write about my interests, but I don't really talk about them.


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Mountain Goat
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01 Jan 2020, 8:47 pm

Angnix wrote:
I tend to only talk excessively about birds if someone brings up the subject...

When I was little I tried to insert birds into everything...


I still try to insert trains into everything. It is how I think as I relate to things via situations related to my hobby or hobbies and interest/interests.


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01 Jan 2020, 9:51 pm

I don't talk about mine much simply because I find talking out loud to be somewhat physically tiring. So I save my rather limited resources for talking out loud for those occasions when I actually have to.


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CubsBullsBears
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01 Jan 2020, 10:12 pm

I always talk to my mom about wanting to find a girlfriend and how frusturated I often am about how I can’t seem to find one.


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01 Jan 2020, 10:24 pm

I am at my worst with special interests and talking about them now at age 62. I wasn't that big on special interests when I young and didn't talk much at all. Sometimes family and close friends get subjected to unwanted lectures on my current special interest. I know when they've had enough but that doesn't always stop me. At work, I usually avoid my talking about it unless someone brings up the subject, then I might keep going until they have cut me off :lol:. I worked with someone in his 60s when I was much younger who seemed real AS. Three of us were in his office talking work and suddenly he goes off on some obscure subject and I found it a little weird. I remember once he was out of work having fallen down stairs while sleep walking and breaking both wrists. A friend, who coincidentally was the most obvious ASD candidate I knew, makes a joke about the AS guy "Too bad he didn't break his jaw" 8O.


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01 Jan 2020, 11:00 pm

I do talk about my obsessions loads if given the chance. I tend to assume people don't care so I talk about it a little then apologise or check if the other person is interested in me continuing. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. As I am interested in true crime at the moment, many don't care because of morbid curiosity but I also respect if it is too much for someone. I think in my case people find it amusing.



CubsBullsBears
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01 Jan 2020, 11:21 pm

lvpin wrote:
I am interested in true crime at the moment
Ayyyyye, me too!


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lvpin
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01 Jan 2020, 11:33 pm

CubsBullsBears wrote:
lvpin wrote:
I am interested in true crime at the moment
Ayyyyye, me too!


I love when someone shares an interest! What people are capable of is incredible (not in a positive way).



blooiejagwa
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01 Jan 2020, 11:51 pm

Joe90 wrote:
Do most Aspies/autistics with obsessions talk excessively about it because you are unaware that the listener is bored, or is it an impulsive urge that is hard to resist?

I haven't had an obsession for a few years, but when I was a teenager I had an obsession that took over my mind so severely that talking nonstop about it was like scratching an itch.
I was fully aware that others were bored but I just found it hard to fight the urge to talk about my obsession.

Is/was this the same with anyone else on the spectrum? Is this the real reason why we talk nonstop about our obsessions/special interests? Because it was in my case.



Yes my case too although not always aware, until maybe in retrospect, then feel extremely ashamed/guilty/bad.


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