Doctor: "Obsession not weird enough"

[Rectify]

I do come back to my interests after I've spent time on others. A number of people here have mentioned similar. I don't really know what precipitates a change in my focus regarding my special interests but they're all good, I suppose I guess I'm a special interest re-user or recycler.

 

[Fino]

"Deviant" has grown to have negative connotation but simply means to depart from the norm. Many people here are describing deviant behavior then arguing it isn't negative, and that's true, but are also pairing "not negative" with the implication "not deviant." But I believe the majority of what is being described is, in fact, "deviant" behavior.

 

[Pats]

"Deviant" has grown to have negative connotation but simply means to depart from the norm. Many people here are describing deviant behavior then arguing it isn't negative, and that's true, but are also pairing "not negative" with the implication "not deviant." But I believe the majority of what is being describe is, in fact, "deviant" behavior.

I had to look up deviant. Reason being is that I always kind of looked at deviant behavior as deliberate like using the term 'act of defiance'. But when I looked it up the definition didn't put it that way, it just said along the lines of what you said. I was a little surprised. Anyhow - this was off the subject.
Defiance is defined more as deliberate or boldly.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

"Deviant" has grown to have negative connotation but simply means to depart from the norm. Many people here are describing deviant behavior then arguing it isn't negative, and that's true, but are also pairing "not negative" with the implication "not deviant." But I believe the majority of what is being describe is, in fact, "deviant" behavior.

I actually quite like living as a deviant.

 

[Crossbreed]

But when I looked it up the definition didn't put it that way, it just said along the lines of what you said.

deviant < deviate
defiant < defy

 

[Fino]

I had to look up deviant. Reason being is that I always kind of looked at deviant behavior as deliberate like using the term 'act of defiance'. But when I looked it up the definition didn't put it that way, it just said along the lines of what you said. I was a little surprised. Anyhow - this was off the subject.
Defiance is defined more as deliberate or boldly.

Yeah, "defiance" is not related to "deviant," except that deviant behavior may be to defy authority figures, or something along those lines.

 

[Pats]

deviant < deviate
defiant < defy

glad you put it that way - easier for me to 'get it'. A badge of being right and explaining in a non-defiant way goes to you tonight.

 

[Aspychata]

But aren't there deviant NT's? If a NT is obsessed with porn, obsessed with gambling, etc. then how are our obsessions rated deviant? It seems obsessions are deviant if we are dx being on the spectrum. Nice old ladies do hours and hours of quilting and call it a hobby. l think we should just blanket title all of our obsessions as hobbies therefore softing the blow of simply being us. Body Builders spend hours at the gym, are they all on the spectrum or just NT's with a hobby that is so discerning that your food, your competition routine, your schedule is completely obsessed over and over and over........

 

[Fino]

But aren't there deviant NT's? If a NT is obsessed with porn, obsessed with gambling, etc. then how are our obsessions rated deviant? It seems obsessions are deviant if we are dx being on the spectrum. Nice old ladies do hours and hours of quilting and call it a hobby. l think we should just blanket title all of our obsessions as hobbies therefore softing the blow of simply being us. Body Builders spend hours at the gym, are they all on the spectrum or just NT's with a hobby that is so discerning that your food, your competition routine, your schedule is completely obsessed over and over and over........

There are definitely deviant NTs and the obsessions you listed would be deviant behavior. That just means they'd have one sign of ASD. They're not called obsessions because we're autistic, they're always called obsessions no matter who has them, but with us they fit into the bigger picture as one component of a complex diagnosis.

 

[Crossbreed]

They're not called obsessions because we're autistic, they're always called obsessions no matter who has them, but with us they fit into the bigger picture as one component of a complex diagnosis.

Just to muddy the waters, our "obsessions" are called "perseverations" and are different than OCD-type obsessions.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

No - they all enjoyed the music, but I had to know every bit of information accessable on the album cover - who played what instrument,

Anil Bhagwat.

 

[Progster]

The pre-tv and pre-internet does make a difference. With internet you can learn as much as you possibly can about a subject. Before that, you had only what you had access to - which, with music was the album covers and inserts.

I had an obsession with music, too. But my family didn't have a lot of money so we didn't buy many records. With me it was all about listening/radio/recording songs/charts. I would buy a single I liked with what little pocket money I had and then listen to it over and over again. I got a transistor radio for my birthday, and took the radio everywhere with me. I became obsessed with the charts and knew each week the top 20 songs. I got a cassette recorder one year, and would sit next to the radio, waiting for a song to come on the radio I liked to record, then listen over and over again. And every time I was upset by something, on would go the song, again and again until I felt better.

I became obessed with Germany - the country, the language, everything about it. I took the radio and found a station broadcasting from East Berlin, with rock songs. I recorded as many as possible, and stayed up to listen to a particular programme I liked until 2am, this became like a ritual to me. I started to look at cars passing by whenever I went somewhere with my family, and looked at every single car to see what kind and model it was, and to see if there were any from Germany. I longed to go to Germany, and eventually when I was 16 I managed this, on a school trip.

At one point, we got a dog (coincidently this dog was also called Honey), and I my parents bought a book on dogs/dog keeping. I learned the contents off by heart. I even took this book to school with me so I could read it on the school bus.

That passed, then it was space/astonomy. I borrowed a book from the school library and then asked my parents and grandparents to by me books. I got about 2 books, which I loved; again, I read and learned all the contents, knew the names of all the brightest stars and their magnitude. I longed for a telescope (now got one ) I once totally derailed the whole German lesson when I learned that my German teacher had a telescope and I asked him about it, so that lesson was all about telescopes Then in the physics class, they gave all the kids a knowledge quizz. When we got feedback from that, our physics teacher expressed his dismay at the fact that no one in the class knew the answers to the astronmony questions - except for one person (guess who that was)

I was never a kid who like to talk much or share much with others. I once went 6 months barely talking to anyone. I was always very aloof and in my head. which meant that my obsessions were internalised. So I wasn't like the kid with a vacuum cleaner obesssion who always brought the conversation round to vacuum cleaners. I had difficulty keeping my attention on anything that was not my obsession and my mind would wander off and I would think about the obesssion all the time, non-stop. I became aware that it was not exactly 'normal' to be thinking about how to record songs from a radio station broadcasting from East Germany, or to be thinking non-stop about Germany or astronomy, so I learned to mask this. Clinically, looking from the outside one might not know what was going on, because it was all internalised, in my head. But that doesn't mean it isn't there.

 

[Progster]

I also think I missed a diagnosis due to this. In the early 90s, when the current DSM was the DSM-III, I had therapy sessions from a psychologist, who most certainly knew about Aspgerger's, even though it was a new thing and not yet a diagnosis in the DSM.

He asked me, "do you have any hobbies."

Hobbies? I thought of collecting stamps or model aeroplanes or sewing or cooking or sports or all the other things that people would normally call 'hobbies'. No, I told him, I don't have hobbies. I like learning languages, reading, listening to music. Oh, I liked astronomy when I was younger, and sci fi. And the conversation on it stopped there, he asked me no more questions. He never asked me what my relationship to those activities were, how I engaged in them or how I felt about them. And that's the crucial thing - how I feel. Clinicians need to ask more question about how people feel, and not just look at behaviour patterns from the outside.

Perhaps if I had told him what I wrote here, he would have investigated further and sent me for testing for autism. After all, unbeknown to me, autism was suspected when I was a child. But also I was masking - I did not tell him about looking at every car that passed us on the road to see its make and registration plate, or the fact that I thought non-stop about a particular thing. I deliberately held back information that I knew as a 'weird' or unusual. And this was never a 'hobby' in my mind, and he asked me about hobbies.

 

[Streetwise]

Overanalysis isn't in the DSM, but it should definitely be one of the autism checkboxes.

Doctor: Do you have any extreme obsessions?

Me: What topics count as obsessions? How many hours per day do you have to do it for it to be an obsession? What if it's a normal interest, but I take it too far? How far is too far? What if I am constantly flitting from one obsession to another? Do you measure how long someone can go without an obsession?

Doctor: <Checks overanalysis box>

have you been listening to my thoughts

 

[Pats]

I also think I missed a diagnosis due to this. In the early 90s, when the current DSM was the DSM-III, I had therapy sessions from a psychologist, who most certainly knew about Aspgerger's, even though it was a new thing and not yet a diagnosis in the DSM.

He asked me, "do you have any hobbies."

Hobbies? I thought of collecting stamps or model aeroplanes or sewing or cooking or sports or all the other things that people would normally call 'hobbies'. No, I told him, I don't have hobbies. I like learning languages, reading, listening to music. Oh, I liked astronomy when I was younger, and sci fi. And the conversation on it stopped there, he asked me no more questions. He never asked me what my relationship to those activities were, how I engaged in them or how I felt about them. And that's the crucial thing - how I feel. Clinicians need to ask more question about how people feel, and not just look at behaviour patterns from the outside.

Perhaps if I had told him what I wrote here, he would have investigated further and sent me for testing for autism. After all, unbeknown to me, autism was suspected when I was a child. But also I was masking - I did not tell him about looking at every car that passed us on the road to see its make and registration plate, or the fact that I thought non-stop about a particular thing. I deliberately held back information that I knew as a 'weird' or unusual. And this was never a 'hobby' in my mind, and he asked me about hobbies.

I was the youngest and always had to sit in the middle - but I could still spot a McDonald arch in the distance. lol Parent, "Where do you kids want to stop and eat?" Me, "McDonalds". Parent, "There isn't one". Me, "Yes there is, way over there." lol
And I think I may have been one to talk constantly about my interests. I don't remember what I would be saying, but I do remember having to follow siblings around the house to keep talking to them because they were trying to get away.

Of course, it was in the early 60's, but I think my speech therapist suspected something because she wanted further evaluations but my dad said no when my mom asked him about it. But probably just as well, because I probably would have been given a different label and lived with a wrong label.

 

[Streetwise]

I was the youngest and always had to sit in the middle - but I could still spot a McDonald arch in the distance. lol Parent, "Where do you kids want to stop and eat?" Me, "McDonalds". Parent, "There isn't one". Me, "Yes there is, way over there." lol
And I think I may have been one to talk constantly about my interests. I don't remember what I would be saying, but I do remember having to follow siblings around the house to keep talking to them because they were trying to get away.

Of course, it was in the early 60's, but I think my speech therapist suspected something because she wanted further evaluations but my dad said no when my mom asked him about it. But probably just as well, because I probably would have been given a different label and lived with a wrong label.

To be clear I put funny because of you relentlessly pursuing your siblings

 

[Streetwise]

I also think I missed a diagnosis due to this. In the early 90s, when the current DSM was the DSM-III, I had therapy sessions from a psychologist, who most certainly knew about Aspgerger's, even though it was a new thing and not yet a diagnosis in the DSM.

He asked me, "do you have any hobbies."

Hobbies? I thought of collecting stamps or model aeroplanes or sewing or cooking or sports or all the other things that people would normally call 'hobbies'. No, I told him, I don't have hobbies. I like learning languages, reading, listening to music. Oh, I liked astronomy when I was younger, and sci fi. And the conversation on it stopped there, he asked me no more questions. He never asked me what my relationship to those activities were, how I engaged in them or how I felt about them. And that's the crucial thing - how I feel. Clinicians need to ask more question about how people feel, and not just look at behaviour patterns from the outside.

Perhaps if I had told him what I wrote here, he would have investigated further and sent me for testing for autism. After all, unbeknown to me, autism was suspected when I was a child. But also I was masking - I did not tell him about looking at every car that passed us on the road to see its make and registration plate, or the fact that I thought non-stop about a particular thing. I deliberately held back information that I knew as a 'weird' or unusual. And this was never a 'hobby' in my mind, and he asked me about hobbies.

No remember women can’t be autistic only little boys !He’s obviously in the stage where he is no longer interested in helping people ,my mother’s mother had a doctor like that ,who said he had every problem she ever had ,she felt triumphant when she went to see him and said she was pregnant , I would love to hear a male doctor say they have endometriosis or uterine cancer or cervical cancer or dysmenorrhoea .

 

[Pats]

To be clear I put funny because of you relentlessly pursuing your siblings

I knew.

 

[Kalinychta]

I also think I missed a diagnosis due to this. In the early 90s, when the current DSM was the DSM-III, I had therapy sessions from a psychologist, who most certainly knew about Aspgerger's, even though it was a new thing and not yet a diagnosis in the DSM.

He asked me, "do you have any hobbies."

Hobbies? I thought of collecting stamps or model aeroplanes or sewing or cooking or sports or all the other things that people would normally call 'hobbies'. No, I told him, I don't have hobbies. I like learning languages, reading, listening to music. Oh, I liked astronomy when I was younger, and sci fi. And the conversation on it stopped there, he asked me no more questions. He never asked me what my relationship to those activities were, how I engaged in them or how I felt about them. And that's the crucial thing - how I feel. Clinicians need to ask more question about how people feel, and not just look at behaviour patterns from the outside.

Perhaps if I had told him what I wrote here, he would have investigated further and sent me for testing for autism. After all, unbeknown to me, autism was suspected when I was a child. But also I was masking - I did not tell him about looking at every car that passed us on the road to see its make and registration plate, or the fact that I thought non-stop about a particular thing. I deliberately held back information that I knew as a 'weird' or unusual. And this was never a 'hobby' in my mind, and he asked me about hobbies.

So many of the questions doctors ask when trying to determine whether or not a person is autistic are too broad or too narrow. They’re not explained very well. Like the intense interests one. Or the one about having imaginary friends as a kid (it was only after being diagnosed that I learned that this question is about having a big imagination, lots of daydreaming and fantasizing, living in your head, etc.).

 

[Nervous Rex]

Let me ask this: Does anyone else try to avoid getting interested in things because you know that there's no such thing as "just a little interested"? If it's good enough to be interesting, it will be an obsession.

I hear about TV shows, games, book series, all the time that sound interesting. But I know that if I like it, I'm going to be in 100%. So, I approach anything new very cautiously.

There used to be hundreds of books in the Star Trek universe. I read one, because I got it free, and it was a disappointing read. I was relieved, because I knew that if I liked it, I was going to read all those hundreds of books.

There is a list of TV shows and book series that I want to watch sometime, but I won't let myself start one until I feel like I have time in my life to watch the whole thing in a short time.