Is Apathy a symptom of aspergers?

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For example not being as emotional about things that other people are crying about. Not feeling much sympathy for someone who probably deserves it. Not being able to get excited when playing sports so you dont give the game your 100%.

Not really being sad about something bad that happens unless it directly involves you.

But at the same time I do get angry about things like people hurting puppies, people getting away with hurting other people, stuff like that.

I'm trying to figure out why I'm like this. I find myself pretending to be emotional in these situations so people dont think I'm cold hearted or weird. I want to care about stuff as much as everyone else but I just can't.

These situations just feel so akward to me.

That sounds pretty aspie to me. Don't worry about it though you'll probably learn when to act touched so you don't look like a heartless bastard.

Lol, thanks.

I can't remember if I've always been this way or not. I was thinking that maybe the solitude and inablity to connect with other people has caused me to become cold hearted and bitter. That or I'm uncounsiously bottling up my emotions 24/7.

I don't know if apathy is a symptom of AS, but it's something I definitely feel sometimes, though I don't pretend to be emotional, usually it's the other way round. I tend to bottle things up and not show it.

My apathy is much more extreme than yours. I have trouble motivating myself, and it's getting worse. I can't get around to cleaning up my place, and I never wrapped the gifts I bought for Christmas or even took off the price tags.

This is a commonly reported characteristic, that is, the feeling as the OP describes it. It's to do with our wiring, and every peculiar characteristic we have has a natural purpose, or we wouldn't be wired this way!

It does cause lots of problems socially, as we just aren't meant to feel or socialize exactly the same with the NT world, and the possible reasons are complex, and would probably frighten some timid folks (like superstitious NT's).

The simple fact is that we don't really know fully who we are, and neither does the world. I feel that I know, but knowledge is something that each person has to discover and realize for himself, as long as we live in a world devoted to Ignorance rather than Knowledge.

The important thing, is to express what we feel; I understand your frustration, most everyone here does to one degree of another, we've all experienced what you describe.

Don't feel discouraged, despite our difficulties with NT's, we're still the Alpha's of the Mental world.

Interesting, this is something I've noticed as well. If I'm really interested in something I care a great deal about it, if not I could care less. There's really no middle ground there. Plus I can be into something and really care about it and then all of a sudden that changes and I lose all interest very quickly. This happens for hobbies, friends, jobs, etc.

It's been a lot worse for me since I crashed recently though (after a lifetime of trying to be normal, guess it got to be too much). Since then I've been almost completely unable to get motivated about anything at all. I wonder if it isn't some sort of defense mechanism where when we get overloaded we just shut down in some respects to conserve processing power for the essentials. Just a theory.

I'm just hoping it's like a coma in that I'll suddenly snap out of it of one these days, because there are really important things I should be concerned about that I just don't care about at all right now.

It's not always apathy, but simply that value is ascribed to different things. I constantly get weird looks from NTs because I don't know who won (or even played in) the Super Bowl, nor do I care. But I am certainly not apathetic when I see someone being wronged in some way.

Im glad to know im not alone in being aptheic much of the time, I think its my most prevlent emotion =/

Apathy is NOT a symptom of Aspergers. It's a consequence of the symptoms. For example, one would feel apathetic towards something that isn't of interest. The apathy is a consequence of the lack of interest. One doesn't have apathy towards a special interest, so apathy isn't a symptom as such.

I hope I explained that well enough!

Does it matter if it is or not? I mean... who cares?

that's exactly how it is for me! And then I'm left with all this clutter I no longer care about but can't quite get rid of even though it's just taking up space.

I also don't feel anything in many situations where I'm supposed to. Or, rather, I don't feel any desire to emote. People confuse not showing emotion with not having any emotion. It's like the eye-contact thing. We don't exhibit conventional signs when we're paying attention but that doesn't mean we're not paying attention. Just because I don't want to cry or talk or let people touch me or outwardly react at all that doesn't mean I'm not grieving.

On the other hand sometimes I really just don't care or even see why I should care when it's obvious people expect me to.

Apathy on the rise, no-one cares.

I told my wife once after we had a big argument...you don't have to worry when I am upset, but if you see me start just not caring then we're in real trouble.

That was long before I'd ever heard of AS.

I don't care.

I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense. I could care less about most stuff.
Of course, I can fake my way through any boring situation/conversation.