The origins of a fixation.

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From what little I know of aspergers, and the desire to know more, I am pretty sure that someone who has it also has fixations. A few topics that they have intense interest in and will fixate upon to no end.

Now there can be deviations from such a fixation, but it usually still has something to do with the topic or interest.

My curiosity is the origins of such a fixation. Is it a something having to do with childhood? Does anyone know what topics or interests arise to become a fixation?

Has there been any researcg done on this?

I don't know about research in the area. (Maybe someone here will know.) However, my fixations now are entirely different than the ones I had a child. I mean, as a young kid, I was extremely fixated on Superman (the 1950s series), helicopters, and the JFK assassination. Later, I became fixated on parapsychology and, in my early teens, on comparative religion. The last one became a part of my field. (I am a sociologist of religion.) However, I have had many more fixations as an adult which have no relationship (that I can see) to anything I did as a child.

Not aware of any research. My guesses:

Some fixations (flashy/shiny, soft, particular tones, etc) might be due to their direct effect on the nervous system. Maybe that flash makes the visual cortex of the brain light up and dance in a happy way that is not possible otherwise.

Other fixations probably develop over time (especially idea related fixations) - the idea triggers pleasure or comfort or some other positive pattern in the brain, and over time, this is reinforced. Might be similar to obsessions in OCD, or fetishes.

Another theory: at some point, the brain 'imprints' on something in the way that chicks can imprint on the first thing they see after hatching. Maybe this can happen at various other times of development in humans?


They begin like spiderwebs and end up as iron chains. (habits)

What are your transitions like? My five-year infatuation with photography dropped flat dead -- snap! -- just like that, the day I was married. Then it was writing.

I've lived long enough to see cycles. Photography came back fifteen years later, ruled for a few years, then was replaced by bicycling. The only fixation that has followed me throughout life is insects.

Just last year, I combined fixations of insects and a return to 3D. That was fun. It ran for about six months -- then stopped, replaced by nothing.

There's been nothing since.

dp

I'm not sure this isn't another of those "it depends on who is describing it" things.

I know that, to other people, I appear to "fixate" on things. I do so for widely differing periods of time, anything from decades down to seconds.

When "fixated", I will be quite single-minded about whatever it is. I will tear the subject to shreds and absorb every last detail... until I am satisfied that there is little left to keep my interest. Then I drop it.

Basically, interest me, and you will get my 100% attention, for as long as it takes.

If that is what (most) people regard as "fixation", then I'm guilty as charged.

I can only speak for myself when I see certain patterns in fixations. My fixations are / were / have been (evolutionary) biology, palaeontology, etymology, Indo European linguistics, philosophy, conservatism, remnants of Dutch colonialism, South Africa (in particular the Afrikaans speaking nations), old native ethnic minorities, cultural history, Salvador Dalí, euphorbias (plants), asclepiads (plants), taxonomy, Pre-Indo-European substrates, politics, etc.

I have recently realised that all these things have in common that they focus on changes while retaining many interesting traits:

* Evolutionary biology, palaeontology, taxonomy, euphorbias and asclepiads all revolve around common ancestry and the passing on of certain genetic and phenotypical traits throughout millions of years.

* Etymology, Indo European linguistics, conservatism, remnants of Dutch colonialism, old native ethnic minorities, Pre-Indo-European substrates, South Africa, cultural history and the like all deal with common ancestry and the passing on (and retaining despite thousands of years and many generations) of certain cultural and linguistic characteristics.

* Politics have to deal with a strong sense of justice that I often feel.

Salvador Dalí and philosophy are the odd ones out. I think it is the organic element in Dalí's paintings that make it interesting, and it is philosophy that enables me to analyse these interests in a more metaphysical way. I think.

One of the typical things about AS is that people with AS tend to focus on patterns. Furthermore, people with AS are often emotionally interested in world affairs, and they can get easily upset about injustice. This explains the political interests I have.
So maybe that will give a clue about which subjects could be good candidates for an Aspie's fixation

But this does not explain much about the intensity with which these interests are being pursued.

This sounds highly probable to me, when I'm absorbed in one of my interests my brain is clearly feeling pleasure. Like when I had a thing about looking up obscure words in dictionaries, I was tapping my feet on the floor and giggling in excitement.


Furthermore, people with AS are often emotionally interested in world affairs, and they can get easily upset about injustice. This explains the political interests I have.

This resonates for me. Other than that, my interests are mostly arty ones, I think I take them up when something seems to explain for me whats going on inside my head. Like Salvador Dali illustrates my paranoia, russian abstract art just says something about my manner of thinking... I don't know how to explain it!! ! Certain bands seem to sound like the inside of my head.

Some of my childhood "fixations" developed due to getting over fears. I feared loud sounds and music as a child, yet I had an intense interest in musical instruments. I also feared thunderstorms at one point and then later became fascinated with weather. Learning everything there is to know about something gives me a sense of having power over it.

Why? Is a very dangerous question.

Gardening lead me to Soil Science, soil is decayed rock, organic matter, and a huge amount of life. A fertile soil is home to so much life that as much as a pound a day dies, in one square foot. Feeding on this are other life forms, worms being the best known, Darwin, The formation of vegatable mold, he kept a worm in a jar for twenty years, it did not change, same size, weight, worms are immortal.

Worm farmers have smooth hands, for worms excrete a slime that is magic, worms are skin, and this slime is great, cures anything.

So that lead to Geology, rock formation, how long to make what soil types, billions of years. Geology could be known, so I did. What is Time? Another quest, I have some theories, I can say it is not a constant.

Mostly I like lies, I read all of History. The simple version is, "People like us are great, God loves only us, everyyone else is scum." It workes for me, for I am not like anybody else.

The chemical part of Botany, for what happens on a lawn, it should be near the temprature of the surface of the Sun.

When involved, to the end, then drop it. Maybe a decade later another look, science is going downhill.

A few problems with immortality drugs, a few other thing I hit on, humans, they are so short sighted.

My main quest now is Tesla, solved two of three problems, one more, and I have The Death Ray.

All my life I thought it was disconnected, but we learn by what we know, and without background, knowledge from other fields, I would not see what I see.

It is not the subject as much as some thing about it. Grass and Cold Fusion.

People publish things that they have no idea of the meaning of. They have one door, and they give away the keys to many. True, is True in The Universe.

I am old school, each of my Obsessions has a key knowledge, it is not explained elsewhere, but I see something there.

First there was learning how to Obsess. It is a skill that can be learned. It is not the thing, for I apply the same skill to all, Obsession is a pattern of knowledge seeking.

Things that do not fit with what I know, I do not remember, telephone numbers, names, faces, they do me no good, things that fit are jigsaw puzzle pieces that snap into place forever.

This is the key skill, for it fits by function, not field. I do not learn Geology, but the process, which also happens in other places. I apply what I know to what I do not know, and it is reveiled to me.

O'Benevolent Gift Waves of Reality,
Grant me the ability to know all things,
By Seeing, Hearing, and Reflecting.

Tibeten Book of the Dead.

My first hardcore obsession was the TV show "The Nanny." I think what made me obsessed was that it had a good fansite that I could obsess over. I was into it for 3 years, just watching reruns over and over again. When I'm fixated on a show, I want my mom to watch it too - it heightens the obsession for me. Once she saw an episode, I no longer had any interest in watching it anymore. Once she saw them all, I no longer card to watch reruns. Then the pulled the show from Lifetime at the times when I was home, and the fansite kind of died - the obsession tapered off. I then got into "That 70s Show." I never got as into it because it didn't have as great a fansite, and once my mom saw all those, that one died almost immediately- it lasted about 6 months. Now I'm into "House." It's still on, so there's always new eps to watch. It also has a great fansite and fantastic fanfic - now, oddly, i'm more into the online world of "House" than the actual show, and expect the obsession to end when the show does. I never watch reruns though, because my mom saw them all, and it kills the thrill of watching them and imagining her reaction/how she'd interpret and how I can share my interpretations...it's weird.

For the past month, I've been trying to find a way to better adapt myself.

It's not exactly nonfunctional, though obsessive.

As a child, I was obsessed with toilets (all locations in every building I ever encountered), collecting rocks and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Later I became obsessed by Batman (still have that one) and the X-Files (over that one). There were some others in there, but the current ones now are M*A*S*H (all 11 seasons, with deference to seasons 3-8.), music therapy, Autism and its spectrum (that's the main one right now), writing, sudoku, and as always . . . Batman.

In fact, I've decided to write a professional paper (in order to enter it for a chance to win an Alpha Chi scholarship) called, "Does Batman Have Asperger's Syndrome?"

Music.

At least it's a popular subject so I seem as sane as everyone else.

Fixations as in obsessions, or something else?

My interests have changed and developed over the years. However, everything that I have been seriously interested in has the common characteristic of involving a observable pattern, routine or order. I can't remember a time when I was not fascinated by these things.

Obsessions are, basically, unenjoyable fixations. AS fixations are enjoyable.