What makes an interest special

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Recently diagnosed and trying to understand the whole special interest thing. What differentiates a normal interest from a special interest? Why do autistic people have such different and intense interests that neurotypical people do not? Do interests not mean that one is just curious about things? Do neurotypical people not have broad and passionate interests?

Sorry if these are stupid questions...just trying to understand myself and life

It is said that "special interests" amongst people with Asperger's or autism are ones in which the person is so absorbed by them that they forget to do things like take baths or eat.

^ yes to what Kraftie said. Also to add: with a special interest we tend to become 'experts' in the specific topic. Or we will find ways to relate many things to our special interest, or bring it up a lot even if the connection isn't apparent to others. Like one of my old special interests was prices, so if someone commented on an item of mine I'd tell them what the price was. Or with my special interests in certain diseases, medical workers sometimes ask if I'm in healthcare because I can sound like an expert.

Does that help?

The clinician Tony Attwood describes autistics as people that have found something more interesting in life than socializing. Since our interest in things is natural to us, it is kind of hard for us to appreciate our focus on them. It is only different in comparison to neurotypical behavior.

As for why, that is a harder question. There seem to be a cognitive difference in how we see the world and gain rewards from neurotypicals. Neurotypicals from an early age are drawn to social interaction and desire emotional rewards (NT babies will stare at images of human faces longer than geometrical objects, the opposite of the autistic response). Autistics are more drawn to objects and seek cognitive rewards, such as the intrinsic value of solving a puzzle.

Compared to NTs around me, I tend to dig dipper into issues and really try to understand them beyond a superficial grasp. My NTs seem to focus more on the social aspect of a task--I go to school to learn, they go to school to interact with others.

Ah. Yes. That is right! Been there and done that. My special interests come in seasons like waves. When in the right season I am building and building and building. (Model railways).
But out if season I will be thinking and planning things to do with them. The dreaming up ideas and plans helps me relax. I am into model railways.

Are obsessions different to special interests? I've had obsessions in the past but I've never been able to get too absorbed to forget to eat or drink or do other essentials. My obsessions were with certain people, and I impulsively talked about them nonstop and wrote stories about them and drew pictures, and I couldn't think about anything else except my obsessions. I even stalked at one point and I got myself (and the guys I had an obsessive crush on) into trouble.

A "special interest," to me, could become "obsessive" if it interferes with your functioning in everyday life.

If you feel compelled, say, to talk about certain people you are "obsessed" with, and little else, this is an "obsession," and can be said to be more than a "special interest."

An "obsession" can be harmful. It can make you lose perspective. It can make you feel compelled to do things that could be harmful to yourself or to another person.

A "special interest" generally doesn't harm other people, though it can do harm to yourself, since you might miss a meal, or neglect your hygiene.

There could be a "fine line" between a "special interest" and an "obsession."

In that case I don't think I've had a special interest. Just obsessions. I decided that my obsessions were more important than finding a job. My obsessions didn't make me forget to apply for jobs, they just made me lack interest in jobs and all I wanted to do was be involved with the people I was obsessed with.

I remember one time when I was a teenager I saw a couple that I was obsessed with in the supermarket and I was so ELATED about it that I couldn't wait to get home and tell my mum. So I told her in every detail when and where I saw them and what they were doing. At first my mum wasn't sure where I was going with this, then when she realised that it was another detailed story of my obsessions, she sighed, "oh for goodness sake, I thought you was going to say that you'd seen a job advertisement or something, do you EVER think of anything else besides those stupid people?!" And I was like, "nope." I mean, how dare my own mother thought I was rushing home to eagerly tell her about some job or something? What did she think I was? Neurotypical?

By the way I'm not obsessed with that couple any more, I haven't seen them for years and I stopped being obsessed about 13 years ago.

I've a special interest in reading but hear comes the special part never non fiction and the 2nd ww is my biggest area.

I'm not sure if most autistic people would have special interests by that definition. Whether a interest makes you forget to eat would depend as much on executive functioning and appetite as on how much something interests you.


That just sounds like introversion. There are plenty of NTs like that. Introversion is usually framed in terms of whether socializing drains you and I think that's part of it but introverts always seem to have other major interests in addition to socializing.

The distinction seems pretty arbitrary to me and I wonder how much special interests are really a thing vs. introversion being pathologized in autistic people. Autistic people do seem to have deeper interests on average even in the few that are extroverted and its possible that this is because of our social difficulties.

Hmm, I’ve never differentiated between “special interests” and “obsessions,” because most of my “special interests” reach obsession level at least for a while. I thought that was what separated them from “normal” interests. Absolutely can be quite detrimental to me (especially since I never seem to get any that could be put to some sort of use, besides wasting my time), though I’ve learned through experience that it’s best to keep them to myself when I can, and it’s never been anything that might harm anyone else, only me (which, in fact, has been my justification for some things). But then again, I’ve also been known to become obsessed with things I don’t actually like, for example feeling compelled to listen to a song or songs by a particular band even though I don’t actually like them at all, or find out every last detail about a movie I very, very much never want to see (but probably would end up watching if I had free access to it, fortunately I haven’t at the times of my obsessions, so far) - that may be something that differentiates the two for me, or that means that what I experience are actually different from “special interests.”

A special interest in the context of autism is an interest that pertains to the diagnostic criteria "restricted/repetitive interest." It's not simply a matter of curiosity; generally it's a collection of information. They're different from other interests because they are "restricted" and/or "repetitive."

As far as I know, there is no official explanation for people having special interests. However, other autistic traits (such as difficulty with task-switching, preference for sameness, attention to detail, etc.) might explain it.

I'm not sure why you are asking about "broad" interests because special interests tend to be narrow.

I'm sure neurotypical (or simply non-autistic, if that's what you mean) people can have passionate interests, but I wouldn't call such interests "special interests" because that term is specific to autism (as far as I know), and I doubt that non-autistic people have anything that's actually like "special interests" in terms of intensity, narrowness, attention to detail, lack of practicality, etc.

Not introversion at all. I like to share my special interests and I can engage people on it, whether they like it or not. Just NTs want to go to the next party.

No, that's more of an extroversion trait than an NT trait.

To OP: The difference between autistic and non-autistic people's interest in parties is based on why a person does or does not want to go to parties. A hyposensitive autistic person might love the noise and lights and stuff at parties, and a socially ignorant autistic person might want to go to parties to tell everyone about her interests for hours, but their reasons are very different from a non-autistic person's reasons for partying.

Introverted non-autistic people might hate parties, but their reasons for hating them generally don't have to do with having migraines and meltdowns at parties.

I forget to eat, drink, talk, turn on the lights, etc. in most things I do, not just interests.

I think the problem with that definition is there are some autistic people who struggle with that without special interests coming into account and In my experience when i'm absorbed in an activity it's not really that i forget about it I just kinda choose not to and move on. Yes it can be harmful. I can just ignore pain in that state. Not like severe pain but pain no less.