Comments on: Autism and Special Interests https://allpsych.com/autism-and-special-interests/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=autism-and-special-interests The Virtual Psychology Classroom Thu, 01 Mar 2018 06:14:50 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 By: Neil Petersen https://allpsych.com/autism-and-special-interests/#comment-2652 Thu, 01 Mar 2018 06:14:50 +0000 https://allpsych.com/?p=1394#comment-2652 In reply to Cyllya.

Defining “special interests” is indeed a little tricky. The DSM talks about “highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus.” So by definition, that wouldn’t include “normal hobbies,” but where exactly would the line be? I agree that it would be interesting to research “special interests” in the general population. I’m not sure whether there’s been work on this, but it’s possible that “neurotypical” people with special interests might tend to have more mild autistic traits without actually qualifying for a diagnosis of autism.

]]> By: Cyllya https://allpsych.com/autism-and-special-interests/#comment-2651 Sun, 25 Feb 2018 20:41:35 +0000 https://allpsych.com/?p=1394#comment-2651 So in this study, they found out the portion of autistic people who had special interests, how many had multiple interests, and the level of engagement in those interests, how wellbeing correlated with levels of engagement… I’d be interested in similar data collected from people in the general population. It kind of seems like “special interest” is a pathologized way of saying “hobby.” (Maybe it’s partially because a lot of autism research and resources are about children, and people don’t normally think of kids as having hobbies. Also, I think the meaning of the term “special interest” was originally a bit narrower than it currently is.)

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