What are restrictive interests

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Hello. When a professional (doctor, therapist, psychologist, et cetera) refers to an autistic person's "restrictive interests" what do they mean?

Restricted interests are strong or intense interests in specific topics or objects.  Restricted interests are common in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  For example, a person might be interested in a specific TV show, math or drawing.

People with restricted interests are often experts on the topics or objects they enjoy. Sometimes they share their interests with others.  Other times, they like to enjoy them alone.

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Google Is Your Friend!

I did Google this and found something similar to what you shared. I wish to hear other people's thoughts as what I found from Googling did not give me satisfying answers. For example, what you shared does not explain why these interests are considered "restrictive."

It's how people describe focused, passionate interests they don't share. I mean, you could call their marriages restrictive, but if they like being in them then they probably don't feel that way.

A more appropriate term might be 'exclusive', in that the person is so focused on their restrictive interest that this focus excludes all other possible interests.

Example: "He is so into train-spotting that even video games do not capture his attention!"

I think it means it interferes with / restricts our daily function.
We can get so absorbed in topics that we forget to eat or practise self-care.
Another interpretation is that the interest in usually very narrow.
Instead of liking "dogs", we might obsess on a certain breed or an even more specific thing about dogs.
If someone tried to talk to us about dogs (in general), we would feel uneasy.

+1

It most likely means an interest in a specific aspect of something, without any interest in the larger whole. Some examples of mine:

Birds fatally crashing into windows...but no interest in anything else about birds or other ways birds die.

Seizures after getting hit in the head in a boxing match...but no interest in boxing, nor interest in other causes of seizures like epilepsy.

Car trunks that curve up at the end...but no interest in any other component of a car or cars in general.

The terms "restricted," "narrowed" and "circumscribed" have been used in the literature. My diagnosing psy said that the above interests are examples of "narrowed," but I don't know if "restricted" is used by psy's as a synonym for "narrowed"

Autistics can have interests in broader topics like anime or guitars, but be fixated on them, thinking about them all the time, wanting to talk about them, whereas NTs have a "normal" interest in these topics.

Good point

From looking up it means an extreme narrow interest in a subject matter that has a very limited scope for expansion of exploration.

Like being obsessed with camera cases rather than photography. There`s only so much to explore with camera cases, its a very limited subject, with just a limited number of manufacturers out there, but the subject of photography is vast.

Looks like an overlapping element of OCD / Autism to me.

I would probably call it becoming an expert in one specific field. When I was a young child, I tried to create one of the worlds sharpest pencils. I worked at it for many months until I decided in my own mind that I had succeeded. Then I went on and picked another interest and worked on that. Over my lifetime, I have had many, many, many interest and combining all these together gave me the tools to explore any region of the world or universe, I choose.

Does it mean, thing that I really want to talk about but can't because I know that other people will find it boring?

To me, it means you have certain interests, but don’t have the flexibility to go beyond these interests, or allow these interests to lead you to other interests.

It also means the obsession with these interests precludes you from doing responsible things—like holding a job or eating your dinner.

Yeah that's why the term to me "restrictive interests" always left a bad taste in my mouth. People with autism are just more likely to have more ultra specific interests and I can relate as I have had in my life plenty of them that to others would make absolutely no sense but I will say before I give some examples that a lot of these have some complex spatial association based enjoyment thing going on with me.

I really like specific spaces like a rest stop, the local mall, restaurants with ultra specific styles, and these areas at specific times, and seeking content related to these specific things. One thing I didn't realize I was even paying attention to that had one of these odd association things going on was seriously certain public restrooms in connection with certain spaces, there is even on youtube an actual small community of people that inspects them as well as elevators. If I actually explained this to any normal person I would be looked at as if I had 4 heads. In fact it gets even weirder when it involves me eating dinner on my own in my room, I always need to watch certain content that has certain association bridges to be more comfortable doing so. My mind is a very strange machine.

If you began talking to me about elevators ... I'd soon be asking how much you knew about people getting fatally crushed by elevators, including the widely publicized case of the Chinese college student which was caught on video. Fatal elevator accidents are my only interest in elevators: a very restricted, narrow interest that has no potential for expansion, as these freak deaths are exceptionally rare and there's very limited information on them.

Oh goodness no thank you! those are sorts of things I don't even want to think about even though I am somewhat into dissecting the psychology and possible biology behind people that have done horrific things on that morbid note but that is more tied to my obsession with understanding the inner working of the human body and mind, part of the bigger picture. Like my journey through mental and chronic illness and all I do and study on my own has actually turned into a special interest in itself. Whatever interest we're talking about no one ever really gets piece of any of mine as no one cares about any of it. Even when it comes to music I'm into a lot of really niche stuff. I'm just destined to be a lonely special interest enjoyer.