Ever felt controlled/overwhelmed by your special interest?

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I agree with what someone said about hating being stopped in the middle of something relating to an interest. In tech class today, I was bored cos I was waiting for my turn on the sewing machine, so I was reading a Wiki page I printed out about the breakup of Yugoslavia, and then the teacher took it away cos apparently I was supposed to instinctively know that I should be completing my work from last lesson ("common sense" is no reason, I ain't a mindreader, and she definitely didn't tell us to do that cos I was listening the whole time), and I was like, "But I wanna know what happened after they were pressured to declare a state of emergency!"

Kids are very open to OUR interpretation of their issues.

If we freak, they are scared .

I have AUT and my niece has aut.

WHen she was little she obsessed to n o end about a certain type of dog. She liked dogs in general, but there was one breed from one part of the owrld she would endlessing talk about and she also wanted stories about THAT ONE KIND OF DOG.

Once, she got distressed and hit her head saying she was trying to get out the "bad thoughts." They had gone on so far, she was frightened.


Right there I knew that if she had AUT they would not stop. So, kn woing what I did, I derailed the negativity of the thought she was having. I don't know what i said, but soemthing like:

"You know, there are only a few people in the world who really know about that dog. You are very very smart and it is not bad to have thoughts on one thing. It can be a GREAT thing! You will be the BEST person in the world who knows about that dog! You can go into reseach and all sorts of things. And YOU will be way ahead! It is not bad to think of things. "

ANd I gave her a big hug

And I launched into how much I learned because I was like a light on languages and -

She never talked about it in a negative way again. I kept it a good thing and it was. She is now a beautiful mom and a great woman who is very smart, but she thinks for herself.


I hope that made some sense. Kids really do inerpret things that way we do and they way we tell them to. It's not a disorder for many, so don't go down that road.......!

My special interest that is currently my most-intense one is definitely like an addiction. When I'm away from the special interest, I feel "down," upset, and empty. When I'm engaged in the special interest, I'm all smiles and laughs, and I'm really giddy and overly happy. It's very hard to deal with; I've never had a special interest that has been THIS intense before. It's pretty much all I think about, and it's definitely all I talk about if I'm given the chance. My mom and best friend really worry about me, because the special interest is literally all that makes me happy, and when I'm not able to do something related to the special interest, I just am so apathetic and often burst into tears. It's not a good thing... But, all in all, the intense joy that I get out of the special interest certainly makes up for all of the "addiction"-like feelings it brings.
-OddDuckNash99-

I don't find they consume me as such. My obsessions have never been that intense. My current one with computers, which I think will be life-long(longest one I've ever had), is probably my biggest. I think it use to be worse where I'd be really fidgety and just not be able to focus on anything when I was off a computer and was not aloud to finish my work on it. Even when I was, there's just so much to do and stuff(I guess I can't make it comprehend-able). Now, it's not as bad. I still start to panic a lot when the internet randomly stops working and will invest hours of my time trying to fix it(I can't focus on anything else until it is fixed), but it's probably not as bad. The intensity isn't wearing off, I don't know. I think the first year and a half was too much, maybe. I still don't know anywhere near enough about computers to stop anytime soon, but I don't feel the need to learn more basic things.
I do go to pretty big extents to do a goal I set though. For example, I can easily spend a whole weekend in complete and utter frustration when a problem arises trying to fix it, staying up until 4 AM, etc. Sometimes I have to face the fact that no matter how much code I type or how long I spend, I won't be able to fix it(which is incredibly hard to do since that kind of contradicts a lot of what I say), and I'll be irritated about it for a few days, but then it'll ware off. I'll still want to fix it, but won't bother because I know it'll drive me crazy again.
Sometimes when I get a new computer game or something completely new(for example, when I first bought Photoshop[which is a really strong obsession under computers]) I'll not be able to focus. Even things like bringing my self to the dinner table can be hard but, yeah, I never feel to the extent your son feels, sometimes I just have a hard time focusing on something which I find boring in comparison to the excessive intriguer of my obsession/special interest.
Sorry for the poor layout of this post and stuff.
EMZ=]

every since i got an Atari 2600 in 1982 my obsession has been video games. i'd game for 8+ hours whenever possible. This came to explode with the newer MMORPGs (massivly multiplayer online role playing games) I played Everquest from 2000-2008, Medal of Honor Spearhead, Call of Duty series, and now i'm on Warhammer Online.

my peaks were being online at 20-30 hours at a stretch. thats one session. i believe the most i've gone is nearly 36 hours. I can remember once there was a double xp weekend in Everquest. for 3 days straight, i slept on the floor next to my computer with an alarm clock and i had it set to go off every 15 minutes. I'd game for 30 minutes sleep for 15. then repeat the process. i did that for that 3 day weekend. to maximize my xp gain for that weekend. Its called "Grinding" in gaming circles. Typically i'll find a quest or a tradeskill and just grind it out over and over for hours or days. weeks. I literally have lost years of my life to video games.

But i have to do it. there is no taking a break. i enjoy it way too much. but i no longer play more than say, 10 hours at a stretch, with a full time job and 2 kids, i just can't. but i'll put my game time ahead of sleep or eating. for awhile, i'm sorry to say, i put my gaming time before my wife and children and had at one point, stopped working so i could play my game more. i won't tell you about the things i'd do to avoid going to the bathroom rather than stepping away from my precious computer. heh.

Its a need. and i don't see myself ever stopping.

Certain video/computer games can have that effect on me, mostly ones that are fairly repetitive such as Solitaire, Minesweeper and Tetris. I'll play them for hours each day, and when I'm not playing, I'll be imagining the game in my head. Even if I want to, I can't drag myself away from them and to another activity, and it's impossible to stop thinking about them.
Thankfully, they don't often take over my mind like that, and when they do it lasts for a week or two at the most. However, there have been periods of time where I've had more days than not when I can't drag myself away from them.

Like someone else said once my special interest at the time reaches a saturation point it eases up. But soon another one takes over. Most of the time my special interests are about things I can read/research on the internet so I spend A LOT of time on the web. I got written up several times at a previous job for surfing the net while on the job. I just couldn't help it.

Obsession is really underplayed within the concept of Aspergers, usually it is social skills difficulties that typify Aspergers but for me the most crucial and problematic part is the obsession. Perhaps when Aspergers Syndrome was being conceptualized by the scientific community the difficulties posed by social skills difficulties were more immediately obvious whereas difficulties stemming from obsession remained somewhat less obvious. Alternatively, perhaps other people get obsessed with things somewhat more helpful than I do. Perhaps being obsessed with something you actually obtain would be absolutely brilliant, but my obsession is very much out of reach.

For me, it is the woman I love. When most people fall in love, they seem to go through a very intense period, both of thoughts and emotions, which slowly decreases to manageable levels. For me, only the emotions subside, although perhaps less than other people's, whereas my thoughts do not, no matter what happens between me and the focus of my love. It has been nearly two years since she ended everything with (completely unjustified) threats of legal action, in truth I was never more than a friend with her yet still to this day I find it difficult to read because she burns in my mind so intently. Every moment my mind is blank it will literally return to her and when I try to distract myself, reading or computer games say, it is regular that she will be in the back of my mind, concentrating on both her and whatever I am trying to distract myself with. Unfortunately, since I cannot really deal with the situation, when I think about her enough I get very upset and often have panic attacks. This obsession was identical with the previous two woman I loved with, although one of them happened to be my best friend so that was somewhat easier.

[/quote]I have told my mother and my therapist, "I can't get rid of this, no matter how hard I try." At first they didn't understand, that they thought it was a 'voluntary' obsession, something that if the person did XYZ or held off enough, the obsession would go away. [quote]
I fully agree that people often cannot see the difference between voluntary obsessions and those which are not voluntary. Certainly, I can easily change most of my obsessions but this one I cannot and it consumes me with anger when people simply talk around you about this. You tell them this is serious, that I cannot change it, and they reply that it will change, not to be melodramatic, that I should just relax. You then try to explain Aspergers and they often switch off, seemingly seeing me as just exaggerating for sympathy.

It fully expect this to be life long, that I will always be obsessed with a woman, the question simply is will I be with the next woman I fall in love with, or maybe will I just be her friend, or maybe I'll spend years obsessed with another woman who I have no contact with. Life is worth living if I believe the first one will happen soon (imagine being with someone you would do anything for), life can be tolerable if I believe the second on might happen, but since the latter or just remaining obsessed with the current woman seems likeliest, I spend a lot of time questioning if life is worth living.

If I had one piece of advice to jonahsmom it would be to discourage your son from any interest in anything unattainable. I guess that to a child even dinosaurs are attainable, but as age progress so does reality. I'm sure your child could go very far, but due to the dangers over unattainable obsessions, perhaps even put your encouragement a step below what you feel he could realistically achieve, to avoid unattainable obsession. For example, if your child became interested in a part of the world, do not encourage an impression that he could one day visit there unless you are willing to fork out for a trip, or that he might live there, because as much as he probably could attain such a goal himself one day it could easily become an unattainable obsession (America is currently a minor obsession of mine, and it hurts because it is out of reach). This probably sounds really cruel but I can only say it would kindness. I dare say some people on the forum will hound me with abuse for saying something negative about aspergers.

Well, at the age of 5, my son is determined that he will one day be a paleontologist who lives in Africa. Although we don't have the money to send him to Africa...if anyone could live in a tent and do nothing but dig for signs of dinosaurs all day and all night, that would be him. Maybe I am not living in reality, but I do think with the proper guidance that is a goal he could accomplish.

The other night when he was so upset about his obsession, I tried to frame it postively for him...letting him know that maybe one day he would be a paleontologist and he would be glad for all that he had learned now.

It is diffucult, though. For example, he doesn't want to wear clothes that don't have a picture of a dinosaur or animal on them. He's outgrowing his shoes and he's informed me that he only wants "dinosaur shoes", whatever those might be. I tried to explain that I have never seen shoes with dinosaurs on them, to no avail. I am sure they do exist. I'll have to go google it. The question is whether or not we can afford to buy all of these specialty dinosaur products.

Maybe he will grow up and design a line of dinosaur clothing for AS kids with dinosaur interests. That would truly be beneficial to society. lol!

My latest obsession is collecting videogames for my PC. While I usually am somewhat picky about which ones I buy I typically don't play them for long before putting them on my shelf where they usually remain. I actually feel happier just having them then I do playing, pretty weird. I'm able to control it to some extent so that I don't overspend but it is pretty wasteful.

if my interests get out of line
they go out the window lol

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I'm obsessed with a cartoon called Storm Hawks. I think about it all the time and practically live in the fantasy world of atmos. I've been really stressed out lately becasue the first half of series 2 has just finished showing in the UK and it's now on hiatus on Cartoon Network so it doesn't look like I'll be seeing series 2 part 2 anytime soon. Seriously, I am so upset by this that I've been crying and harming myself. Deep down I know it's ridiculous, but I just can't stop myself.

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I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

im obssesed with my guitar i have to be as good as i can possibly be this might not be a bad thing at all but still i would like do different things than just being obssesed with it