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SteelMaiden
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19 Oct 2012, 9:52 am

I have two special interests, one which is expected and one which is downright odd. My first one is Psychopharmacology / medicine / psychiatry. My second one is (I'm embarrassed to say this)....talking about myself :/

I can talk about my autism, my health conditions, and the way my brain works, for ages. Is this normal in AS or am I just narcissistic?

Also when I talk about Psychopharmacology / medicine / psychiatry / ....myself, I become very talkative and excited, and I can't stop talking. Is that an AS thing? When the subject changes to something unrelated, I either go quiet or attempt to divert the conversation back to my special interest.

Also, I can sometimes become very talkative (as above), and then when I leave the very talkative situation, if it is for more than an hour, I then get extreme exhaustion and end up sleeping or being zombie-like. The talkativeness seems to remove a lot of energy from me.

Fairly often, I go through non-verbal (or near-non-verbal) phases, sometimes they last for a day or two (my worst non-verbal phase lasted five days).

Is it my AS that is making me either say hardly anything half the time and the other half of the time blabbing about my special interests?

Also I find it extremely hard to talk to people I don't know.

People have said that my social interaction is rather atypical, and that I often am too blunt, or I don't take any notice at all of the other person. I can also be inadvertently rude. Anyone else relate to this?


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MjrMajorMajor
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19 Oct 2012, 10:05 am

Completely relate. Having a tendency to blather on about myself is not an endearing feature. It's not narcissism, but how our brains associate topics to our own experiences for understanding.



SteelMaiden
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19 Oct 2012, 10:29 am

MjrMajorMajor wrote:
Completely relate. Having a tendency to blather on about myself is not an endearing feature. It's not narcissism, but how our brains associate topics to our own experiences for understanding.


Thanks. That is true, probably because we with AS have trouble "putting ourselves in other people's shoes", so we talk about ourselves, as we're the only people we know much about.


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Destidude
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19 Oct 2012, 10:45 am

In conversations, I do my best to genuinely listen and let other people speak. I came to the realization that most people love to talk about themselves and get bored if they aren't contributing. This is something I had to work hard at initially because being conscious of how others feel doesn't always come naturally. I think we all ought to recognize that a conversation sucks when we don't get a word in and therefore it's important to not put people off by monopolizing things, ourselves.



Stoek
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19 Oct 2012, 11:59 am

MjrMajorMajor wrote:
Completely relate. Having a tendency to blather on about myself is not an endearing feature. It's not narcissism, but how our brains associate topics to our own experiences for understanding.



Yeah I find I fall in the trap of trying to relate to someone verbally, meaning I compare myself to them, to show I care.

Ironically tons of people think I'm trying to compete, when in reality I'm just trying to point out I understand.

Since it's been such a large problem I've given up, I now try to make so you statements.

so you were tired as hell
so you were there for 3 days
so you've must of been so pissed of, etc.



Last edited by Stoek on 19 Oct 2012, 12:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

MjrMajorMajor
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19 Oct 2012, 11:59 am

Destidude wrote:
In conversations, I do my best to genuinely listen and let other people speak. I came to the realization that most people love to talk about themselves and get bored if they aren't contributing. This is something I had to work hard at initially because being conscious of how others feel doesn't always come naturally. I think we all ought to recognize that a conversation sucks when we don't get a word in and therefore it's important to not put people off by monopolizing things, ourselves.


Very true, and a very good point. Sometimes I don't even realize it until it's too late though :oops: . Everything's a work in progress.



daydreamer84
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19 Oct 2012, 12:03 pm

My social interaction very much resembles yours OP. If your social interaction is odd than mine is as well!



1000Knives
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19 Oct 2012, 1:16 pm

MjrMajorMajor wrote:
Completely relate. Having a tendency to blather on about myself is not an endearing feature. It's not narcissism, but how our brains associate topics to our own experiences for understanding.


Tanya from Celicasupra.com?! Your avatar...



MjrMajorMajor
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19 Oct 2012, 2:00 pm

Not I, sorry.



1000Knives
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19 Oct 2012, 2:18 pm

MjrMajorMajor wrote:
Not I, sorry.


Oh.... Because she's used the same avatar. Plus she does seem to have some Aspie tendencies. Cool gal.



cecilfienkelstien
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19 Oct 2012, 2:20 pm

I relate to all of this. I have no idea how to help....


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arielhawksquill
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20 Oct 2012, 12:15 pm

Some people refer to that AS communication phenomenon as "monologing". I don't think it counts as a secondary special interest, just a way that you share your primary one with people.



jourdan
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20 Oct 2012, 7:33 pm

I have a terrible time trying to talk to people I don't know well or just don't speak to on a regular basis. Eventually I resorted to not talking in an attempt to not screw up and look foolish. This is far from a solution though as eventually people noticed my silence and tried to get me to talk more.
The best way I have found to deal with conversations is to ask questions when I don't know how to respond. Most people's favorite subject is themselves so if u ask questions about them it will keep the conversation going and, if you're in a group, u have contributed enough that no one will think you're the weird person that doesn't talk.
Also I have found that reading books on body language have helped A LOT for understand how to react to what they are saying.



emimeni
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20 Oct 2012, 10:17 pm

I had your second special interest for a while. It simply got exhausting thinking/talking about all my disabilities all the time.


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