Obsessions

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Are AS obsessions something you feel you must do, and if you can't do those things is it really upsetting. I don't have AS, but there have been a few times where I've really interested in a subject for a period of months. It could be something like the life of JFK or something like that. I learn all I can, look at pictures, read books on the subject, and think about it a lot. However, those things don't interfere with my life, or relationships, and if I had to suddenly stop overindulging on one subject, it wouldn't bother me. I tend to do those things when I don't particularly have much to do, or when no one is around me....like in summers. I would rather be hanging out with friends then do my obsessions. I really like being with people...being lone to much makes me neurotic. Anyways, is what I've described like an AS obsession, or is different?

Like an AS obsession or special interest, yeah.

Most people claim to have a core (life long) obsession and then also have smaller more temporary obsessions. What you describe does sound like small AS obsessions. Do you have anything else that you have been doing all your life, like writing or music or drawing, and you maybe haven't even considered it an obsession?

Nope, no core obsessions! I'm an artist, but it's definitely not an obsession. Once I complete a work, it takes a while before I feel like doing another one. I feel that way about most things..lol, even things I love. I like variety, and feel better when my day is a little different then usual. I like spontaneity, and wish me life was more so. I do, however, like learning about people and all their different experiences, and learning about relationships people have with one another. There have been different people that I admire for some reason or another, and learn all I can about them--like I wrote in the first post. I didn't have obsessions like this until I was in high school. I don't know way I indulge on learning so much, and thinking about people so much. It's not that I'm trying to escape the reality or anything, and I don't talk about to anyone. I would be too embarrassed to go on and on about the same thing, and I hate it when other people go on and on about the same thing. It's when I space out that I think about my obsessions, or when I'm alone, but I'm also doing several things at once not just my obsession, and I jump back and forth between things. I also get obsessed with something when I have another else to think about or focus on. I do feel an emptiness in life, I don't have much family, and my friends are now scattered about the country---so maybe I just trying to fill a void. When reading up on AS obsessions it seems that the reason behind it is to try and find order in a chaotic world. Is that true? What is the reason? I don't feel that way behind mine, and I don't feel like I'm from another planet. Maybe I'm not as obsessed as I thought. Obsession is a term that is used lightly in everyday speech. I dunno! What do you think? I would appreciate your feedback! Thanks!!

Not sure if troll. I think it's called "having hobbies" in your case.
The reason? Because it's interesting and fun and feels f*****g great. Why do people have sex? You seem to think of being interested in things as some kind of chore caused by negative things and to be done when "there's nothing better to do"... Better? How bizarre.
Anyway yes, you're using "obsessed" as it's used by most people that are not actually "obsessive" for real. Like people that are not actually depressed can use that term when they are a little sad or whatever. And it's a totally normal use of the word, but what led you to believe it was the same thing as the definition of the word? I'm not going to ask a kid who says she's "depressed" because of not getting an icecream cone to go see a psychiatrist and get on SSRI..


ETA: So sorry, that was a bit rude. It didn't really have much to do with you...
I know that your way of viewing it is not all that uncommon and if that's what you've heard of course you're going to believe it, and you did the right thing by being polite and actually going and asking some autistic people about this. I wish more people did that.
It's just that you might have confused OCD, which is unpleasant, with "having obsessions/special interests", which is very pleasant and joyous. That confusion happens a lot. You said you've done some reading about it, and from the negative and clinical language so often used about any diagnoses in psychological literature it's easy to draw that conclusion - "they say that they MUST do those things, we will misunderstand them on purpose, it wouldn't be nice to feel like that for an NT so we're just going to assume it's terrible for them too"/"They spend abnormal amount of time on something, abnormal always = bad"/"Surely this must be caused by something negative" and so on.

And then the neurotypical meaning of obsessed is something "milder" (for lack of better word) - "oh haha I'm/you're sooo obsessed"... Saying that is showing they view it as something negative (or at least abnormal) being interested in things and call attention to it for different societal purposes.

And this does have something to do with you: You're an artist. You only feel like painting sometimes. You're sure you're not bipolar? I'm also creative and most likely bipolar... Hypomania/mania can feel like obsessions sometimes, but I can tell the difference between "special interests" and just interests intensified by mania (they can overlap which is better than anything ever ever ever) and it's cyclical, like what you described.

I'm not bipolar---my mood is pretty stable, and like life to just happen . I guess I'm still confused about where hobbies/interests fade into obsessions. So having an obsession with JFK (hypothetically), and spending months researching is life, and hours a day in JFK land and thinking about it all the time is different from the way AS gets obsessed with topics of interest? These obsessions aren't boresome until I being to worry it's not a normal level, and then that probably makes my indulge in JFK research again. Like I said, my obsessions just happen when I'm by myself--I don't talk about it much with anyone. I do others things simultaneously, and I take breaks often. If someone or something needs my attention, I can switch over to what ever the thing is. Things just get stuck in my mind, and it's probably not a normal level. I don't know! Is that still different from AS obsessions? When I research obsessions all that comes up is AS, and OCD. I have OCD, but those obsessions are different and very unpleasant---I wish I can turn the worry off. So when the say obsessive interest to the exclusions of other things---what exactly does that entail? Does it mean so totally absorbed that you forget to eat, go to the bathroom, tune out people when they talk to you, sleep, etc? I'm seeing mixed responses on the matter.

I don't know if it's a manic episode or not--I'm not all that familiar with it.

Sorry, I'm probably being really annoying!

You must not be a very good artist..

hahaha...gee thanks! I majored in it, and got burned out...lol.

i can only describe my personal experience, and my obessions (genealogy in particular) tend to be the center of my universe. Not a day goes by that I don't research something. And on weekends, just forget about it. Saturday especially is designated solely for this purpose. You would think that since I've been researching since I was 14 (26 now), I'd have gotten my fill, but instead I've just branched out to other people's trees and I've started transcribing records en masse.

If I don't get my Kinks time before bedtime, I'll go krazy the next day.