Hyperfix

[Milliecat]

i have this thing where all of the sudden i get hyperfixated on a person, like a youtuber or an artist.

I may not even have watched or listened to their stuff before, or just had like a song or two I liked by them or watched a coupleof their videoes.

Then something just sticks in my brain and i obsessivly watch all their videos, listen to their music every waking minute, read anything i can find by them or about them, and they are everything i think about.
If i try to watch or listen to anything else I feel like I am waisting time, that I should be watching their stuff instead.
I really have to stop myself from obsessively talking to anyone about hem, because they are evrything I think about.
If the have books i buy them, if they have merch i want it (so glad my country had too stricht custums that i actually buy it), or if they promote something I will try to get it or play the games that they play. Even stuff i dont need, want to play or really should be using money on.

It is very much not voluntary, and I feel imprisoned by my own hyperfixation. It is so bad that I just want to pour bleach on my brain because I can not make it stop.

It has lasted months, MONTHS, where one person on the other side of the world is EVERYTHING i watch and read and listen to every day. I end up knowing their whole history and can look at a picture of them and tell what year or video it was from and where they were in their lives at that point, stuff i dont need to know!

Eventually it will calm down, But the time it takes feels like actual torture.
And another one will come and start the whole mess all over again.

Does anyone else experience this or something similar?
Any advice on how to make it calm down faster?
Is this an aspie-thing or an ocd-thing?

 

[Progster]

I have experienced this with bands I like. Not usually people, but may involve people. Also, collecting, at the moment Duolingo.

 

[Tom]

I frequently get something like that, but fortunately it is usually very brief, like 30 minutes. It seems once I learn the basics about them or it, I am satisfied and the fixation ends. At the most it might linger for a day.

 

[Judge]

Is this an aspie-thing or an ocd-thing?

Yes.

Though in my own case I tend to get fixated on things rather than people.

As for the duration of one's focus, that strikes me as something that can be quite fluid depending on the individual with a fixation and whatever- or whoever it may involve.

However I must point out that fixations over people have a greater potential to go badly compared to fixations over things. Where if this might involve someone in your social orbit that it's quite possible that such a thing can scare them off. Though in the case of fandom, not so much.

"Special interests" is a big thing with most people on the spectrum. Something so many of us can easily relate to. Though how intense or how long such an interest might be will vary from one person to the next.

Need to calm down? Well, as long as it isn't directly impacting another human being, your inevitably gravitating to yet another special interest will likely solve that. No harm, no foul unless such interests interfere with your ability to eat, sleep and work. Then it can be a real problem, apart from the dynamics of such interests interfering with other people.

As long as such things aren't hurting yourself or others, look at it this way. It's what we do, and who we are.

 

[Mia]

With me it's usually things that make me want to know more. Fossils or these last few weeks and days identifying insects. Have insect identification books placed strategically nearby so I can look at them when my interest wanes in other areas.

Spend quite a lot of time thinking about reuse of plastics and packaging. Attempting to use them in art projects as much as possible and in other more practical long-term ways. I've been collecting large foil lined coffee bags for months, trying to find a use for them. You can't recycle them because they are plastic on the outside and foil lined on the inside. So I need to find a way to use them practically. People use them short term, for dirt and seedlings, but then throw them away, I'm thinking of using them as liners for something.

 

[Tom]

As far as how to change it, I think firstly it is a people thing in general. Just about everyone has things they do, or do too much of they also want to change. It can be obsessing or worrying or drinking or eating, you name it. We are divided in ourselves about it. Having OCD, or being Aspie probably just makes it more likely to happen or in some ways more intense. I don't know of any simple or universal fix to the problem. I think you have to find your own way with it. For me it seems a matter of putting my will power and determination behind the choice that I feel is better or needed. It varies in how hard it is. Some things are very hard as they take a lot of time and the will power feels like it can weaken. But I have found if I can stay the course, I can win out over some instinctive or impulsive urge.

 

[Milliecat]

Yes.

Though in my own case I tend to get fixated on things rather than people.

As for the duration of one's focus, that strikes me as something that can be quite fluid depending on the individual with a fixation and whatever- or whoever it may involve.

However I must point out that fixations over people have a greater potential to go badly compared to fixations over things. Where if this might involve someone in your social orbit that it's quite possible that such a thing can scare them off. Though in the case of fandom, not so much.

"Special interests" is a big thing with most people on the spectrum. Something so many of us can easily relate to. Though how intense or how long such an interest might be will vary from one person to the next.

Need to calm down? Well, as long as it isn't directly impacting another human being, your inevitably gravitating to yet another special interest will likely solve that. No harm, no foul unless such interests interfere with your ability to eat, sleep and work. Then it can be a real problem, apart from the dynamics of such interests interfering with other people.

As long as such things aren't hurting yourself or others, look at it this way. It's what we do, and who we are.

That makes a lot of sense, thank you!
Luckily it has never happened with people in my real life!
I know its stereotypical, but usually when i hear about special interest its like ...writing down cars licensenumbers or like ..chess. Something that lasts? I never hear about special interests that come and go or keep changing, so i find it fascinating.

And i would very much prefere to have a way to calm it down (or get rid of it), because it gives me a very claustrophobic anxiety to be in these hyperfixations, because its something i HAVE to do and cant not do it even if i wanted to watch something else.
So it very much is dictating my life, but as this is day five of this hyperfix-episode and my tv says ive watched 162 youtube videoes about this one person just this evening, ive just accepted that this is my life now

 

[Aspychata]

Feel like being on the spectrum means we can put anything under a microscope and analyse it until we back off. It's amazing our ability to suck up the most mundane facts and occupy ourselves 24/7. Have you ever thought about being a history buff? Period writers take entire timelines and incorporate into plot detail. Like embrace this and figure out how to benefit yourself with this!