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Interests/Special interests?

I hear a lot about "specil interests". Do we have a definition?
People talk about how much they enjoy their "special interest". I have never really been that person. I always bring the ASD difficulties into my interests.
How are people able to engage in something without having all the ASD issues?
 
Supposedly obsessive thoughts are quite common with ASD. As such, for some this can mean have prolonged interest in certain hobbies or past times. As to how long these last - who can say? I think we can all get burnt out with anything we might enjoy. Too much of a good thing etc. But these obsessive thoughts can also mean issues with anxiety, stress, depression etc as our mind has a tendency to latch onto and ruminate over thoughts.

Ed
 
I have several special interests and have a lot of knowledge about them. My areas of interest are fashion doll (particularly Barbie and Lol Surprise OMG with a bit about Monster High, Ever After High, and Bratz), limited edition porcelain Goebel dolls that were sold on QVC (I have a large collection of them and know about Dolly Dingle through these dolls), music boxes, music, video games, My Little Pony (I’m a casual Brony that enjoys the cartoons but doesn’t buy the merchandise or toys or write fanfics), and Pokémon.
 
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I had always been fascinated by the natural world and when I had the opportunity to learn more about ancient life it was wonderful, especially as a city boy getting out into the countryside to collect fossils. I enjoyed the hobby and later thought that it made me pretty unique.

While I enjoyed sharing my knowledge and experience, I really pulled back on that when a person I had thought of as a friend excluded me from an activity that was important for me.
 
Supposedly obsessive thoughts are quite common with ASD. As such, for some this can mean have prolonged interest in certain hobbies or past times. As to how long these last - who can say? I think we can all get burnt out with anything we might enjoy. Too much of a good thing etc. But these obsessive thoughts can also mean issues with anxiety, stress, depression etc as our mind has a tendency to latch onto and ruminate over thoughts.

Ed
My big question is: how can all those people with ASD have such a good self knowledge that they never have to experience extreme frustrations when they engage in their special interest.
I think I understan exactly the issue here: when people mention "special interests" they seldom speak about skills. They really only speak about collecting items or or information. I think learning new skills can make you extremely frustrated whereas collecting items or information is another thing.
Am I into something? Special interests are seldom about skills?
 
My knowledge of fashion dolls have come in handy in a couple of FB Groups that posts pics for identification. I have identified quite a few things and also explained a couple of dolls that had gimmicks that made the doll look odd if you didn’t know what the feature was. I’ve also helped narrow possibilities down on a few posts as well.
 
"special interest" is a term I really disslike. I cannot engage in an interest and only experience the joy. I am not the person with ASD I should be. I don't have that good self kowledge like I am supposed to have. I cannot engage in a special interest and only experience joy.
People who talk about special interests might actually help us go more into stereotypes (and that's bad).

What is it that you do in order not experience a lot of frustration with your "special interests"?

Could we say that a special interests is something you engage in for fun? Many of us engage in something other than just for fun and therefore we have no special interests?
 
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I know at least one person besides self who is diagnosed ASD whose special interest is a skill. It is combined with a collecting of things which support the work he does.

I am diagnosed HFA formerly known as Aspergers and my special interest could be described as a skill. I’ve had others as well. (Example of others: playing piano, backpacking & traveling)

For me, the absorption in it can suddenly wane due to various stresses, and as Ed mentioned, rumination, but it never goes away.

So, I disagree that special interests don’t exist. Also, why are you so concerned about the term?
 
I think learning new skills can make you extremely frustrated whereas collecting items or information is another thing.
I went through a period of intensely learning languages on Duolingo. I was learning about 5 languages simultaneously. I ran into problems, though, because I was getting very frustrated when I made a mistake, or when I made a typo or gave a correct alternative translation that Duolingo wouldn't accept. Eventually I had to make myself give it up and delete my account, because it was causing me a great deal of stress.

Is this the kind of thing you mean?

I think that learning languages can be counted as a skill.
 
My big question is: how can all those people with ASD have such a good self knowledge that they never have to experience extreme frustrations when they engage in their special interest.
I think I understan exactly the issue here: when people mention "special interests" they seldom speak about skills. They really only speak about collecting items or or information. I think learning new skills can make you extremely frustrated whereas collecting items or information is another thing.
Am I into something? Special interests are seldom about skills?

My special interest is all about skills. I made a good living for over fifty years working with my special interest. Remember, we are all different.
 
Dolls and soft toys, I have a large collection of Monster High, Ever After High and LOL Surprise dolls. I wasn't really interested in fashion dolls like Barbie or Bratz, until MH came out. Arts and crafts such as customizing dolls or making furniture for them. Watching Golden Age cartoons such as Disney, Max Fleischer and Looney Tunes. Simulation and casual video games such as Animal Crossing and The Sims. Cats! Guinea pigs! Watching cute videos of the kitties and the piggies.:hearteyecat:But I worry it makes my cat jealous.:smirkcat:
 
Am I into something? Special interests are seldom about skills?
I do not think so. Some can focus so well that they can work past the frustration of that initial part of the learning curve. While I was abyssmal in other areas of mathematics, once I discovered Statistics, Statistical Design of Experiments, and Statistical Process Control, I picked up the skills in applying these and was very successful.
 
I'm not sure why there's an assumption that a special interest or skill would have no frustrations. ASD involves emotional regulation issues. I frequently try encounter frustrations when gaming and staffing and doing art and photography.

Ed
 
Some of my special interests are topics or animals or objects, some are skills, but most of my special interests require a skill of some sort.
 
There is not a single pattern for autism/autistics. The most you can usually say is some tend to do this or that. And basically no one, perhaps baring the rarest exceptions, gets a 'perfect' hand dealt to them, including NTs.

But some things might be improved with time and effort. I think developing a special interest you enjoy is quite possible.
 
I hear a lot about "specil interests". Do we have a definition?
People talk about how much they enjoy their "special interest". I have never really been that person. I always bring the ASD difficulties into my interests.
How are people able to engage in something without having all the ASD issues?

I think the definition is different for everyone, but for me, a special interest is somewhere between a hobby and an obsession. It involves some degree of intrusive thoughts, as well. I will usually take "deep dives" into certain topics or activities, learning all I can about it, sometimes spending a lot of money on it,...then, some months to years later, I am on to something else.

At least for me, a special interest actually takes my attention away from my ASD sensory issues. However, the only exception would be when I am doing ASD research,...one of my current special interests,...then, I tend to focus upon myself as it relates to the research I am doing.

The ASD "experience",...at least for me,...will become worse if I am focusing upon it and/or my brain becomes exhausted. In which case, I really am not in a mood to enjoy my special interests,...I just want to take some meds and try to sleep it off.

Diet, exercise, sleep, and certain supplements help me control the cerebral edema, blood pressure, the anxiety and stress. Minimizing carb and caffeine intake, lots of water, avoiding salty foods, is a start. A good, broad-spectrum probiotic (gut-brain axis), 200-400mg L-theanine/day (glutamine blocker), and an antioxidant mix of Ubiquinol, Resveratrol, and N-acetyl cysteine (they cross the blood-brain barrier) are part of my regimen. I have found the higher doses (400mg/day) of L-theanine are helping me better than the 200mg/day. If I had to choose one antioxidant, it would be resveratrol.

Do a PubMed or Google Scholar search on "autism and...diet, probiotics, gut-brain axis, L-theanine, ubiquinol, resveratrol, and N-acetyle cysteine."
 
I've been a very active photographer for over 15 years, I probably do more volume than most people (considering that I do work fulltime), I was only formally diagnosed two years ago, had a degree of self knowledge for about four years before that...

Is photography a "special interest" for me? But then lots of people, of course even NT's, have hobbies they get involved in, and in some cases devote much of their time to it...

I am a high functioning, HFA-1, which as some said earlier used to be called Asperger's... I think my HFA-1 is likely a reason why I get so heavily involved in the hobby... In some ways it is also my own worst enemy as I can be very hard on myself, but then as a friend tells me many artists and creative people are like that...

I am also of the opinion that doing something creative (that engages the mind) is one of the best things people can do... Doing anything creative helps immensely with general mental health (sorry off on a rabbit trail now)... But I do know that for me just being outside with my camera is very therapeutic for me...
 
I see what you mean about frustrations, and also about how some interests are more about collecting, whether it's items or information that's collected.

With skills, I think it may depend if the skill is within our area of capacity to develop, I have plugged away at guitar for example for years but still pretty much like a beginner. I'm not musical. Unfortunately. I'm also fairly rubbish at sports.

But there's other skills based stuff I can do adequately, gardening and some paper crafts and solving puzzles, writing comedy sketches and even perfoming in a limited way, and in my work interests, counselling and teaching. Course design. Assessment design, etc.

There are still frustrations though, even when I'm ok or good at something, for example I tend to work slowly.
 
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My big question is: how can all those people with ASD have such a good self knowledge that they never have to experience extreme frustrations when they engage in their special interest.
I think I understan exactly the issue here: when people mention "special interests" they seldom speak about skills. They really only speak about collecting items or or information. I think learning new skills can make you extremely frustrated whereas collecting items or information is another thing.
Am I into something? Special interests are seldom about skills?

This is actually very interesting--I never thought of it that way.

I'd say that my autistic interests have made me very good at some things; I collect antiques but most of them are mechanical in some way (typewriters, phonographs, the occasional vacuum-tube radio, etc.)

Studied Latin for a few years out of fascination with it--

None of this was easy but it was always interesting, rewarding, and (eventually) maybe a little addictive.
 
I've had skill based special interests as well as collecting and learning about something types.

It's been very varied. History, Collecting toy soldiers, Sports, Surfing in particular, Music, Socializing (learning how) Radar Electronics, pets (I'm a Chihuahua nut especially), Archeology. I could go on....
 

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