Do people on the spectrum always have an obsession?

Post Reply New Topic

Hello, new here.

As the title says, I was wondering, do people on the spectrum always have an obsession with something? It seems to be a defining characteristic of ASD, but I can't think of anything I have ever been obsessed with, except maybe toy cars as a kid and I wonder more if that was just because it was given to me and then my parents thought "oh, he likes cars, we'll give him more" and then i was inundated with toy cars... (I do like cars now as an adult, btw)

I guess I see other people on the spectrum have obsessions that they dive deeply into but they are also a cool part of them and almost also an anchor to something continuous and stable in life that can lead to a career or job. I wonder if there is something wrong with me that i dont have that passion? Or obsession?
I kind of feel lost like i dont know what im supposed to be doing, so i end up starting lots of different things and never finishing anything because i lose interest after obsessing for a few days.

The DSM 5 diagnostic criteria for ASD require only two out of the four items listed in category B. One of those items is "Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus." So, no, not every autistic person has them.

I do not think I have ever been literally obssed over an interest.

Welcome. Nice to read your post. Not every person with an ASD diagnosis has every defining characteristic of the condition. The spectrum is very wide and deep and autistic folks are a very varied, heterogeneous group. As for myself, intense interests are a very big part of my aspergers, but poor empathy (another 'defining' characteristic of ASD) is not. My ability to recognise and understand emotional state in others is similar to NTs. I don't have the poor cognitive empathy trait, but I still received a ASD diagnosis because I had enough of the other characteristics to meet the diagnosis.

I don't think you loose anything by not experiencing obsessions and they are not essential for an ASD diagnosis. The vast majority of my obsessions were never cool and only a few have helped with career.

A strong obsession can easily have a dark side. They can be like a drug addiction and easily take control of your life and put you in the passenger seat, which can be a very scary, helpless and humiliating experience.

I've been traumatised by several of my strong obsessions. Some have driven me until complete mental exhaustion and breakdown, others were embarrassing, and some dangerous and some frightened away people close to me. Some could have got me in trouble with the law and one as a teenager could have easily gotten me badly injured or killed.

I agree that they can become addicting. As a youth, I drove my parents nearly crazy with two of my special topics: fireworks and poisons. I collected them to study and eventually learned how to make my own versions. Even today, fireworks is a dirty word around my mother, as she remembers how much I talked about them endlessly. I did transfer my knowledge of them into my career, so it was not a net loss.

I used to go literally broke over getting video games when I was obsessed with them. My bird obsession lead me to interesting jobs, but now I can't get hired because I can't physically handle anymore and my resume is all bird jobs...