Talking About Autistic Special Interests

Fuller, richer, better language:

"‘Special Interests’ is the most commonly used term to replace the DSM phraseology of ‘Highly restricted, fixated interests’. The term is certainly an improvement and is useful up to a point, but it is very limited and only captures a small part of this fascinating phenomenon. (It also has associations with the term ‘Special Needs’, which makes it unpopular with many autistic people).

What I want to do in this blog post is to help stimulate the growth of a wider view and a larger vocabulary for talking about this aspect of autistic living. Many autistic people feel that something like “intense passion/enthusiasm” or “areas of intense interest and expertise” captures the experience better.

The important phenomenon to understand here is the ingrained tendency of many autistic people to engage deeply in aspects of the world (which is sometimes called ‘Monotropism’). Particular interests that may be currently in focus are not the heart of this phenomenon, nor are the interests always unusual, “nerdy” ones. The sort of activities that we refer to as autistic Special Interests (SPINs) often fall into the category of recognisable, common, hobbies e.g. gaming, gardening, fishing, collecting some kind of memorabilia, etc. Alternatively, they can be something we would more readily categorise as a job/career/profession e.g. lecturing, coding, archaeology, landscape gardening, etc.

The difference lies not in the type of activities but in the different nature of autistic engagement.

Indeed a SPIN could be

• something much more subtle, such as trying to get to know the different routes, backroads, and shortcuts in the town where you live

• a more temporary but intense project, like becoming an expert in everything about Copenhagen, because of an upcoming city break

• a very large, life-transforming cause, such as saving the planet

• an interest that affects many aspects of your life, such as a passion for Italian language and culture, which could lead you to become a university lecturer on this topic, spend most of your holidays in Italy, collect Italian books, perhaps marry someone Italian, and maybe eventually retire to Italy if you can.

Actually, SPINs are just a central part of how many autistics live their lives and engage with the world.

So what other language can we use in talking about this complex and deep area? Over the last few years, I’ve been having a lot of conversations with many of my autistic clients about what sort of language they like to use when talking about this aspect of their experience.

Some of the words and phrases that they came up with were:

• Hyperfocus

• Obsession

• Mastery, expertise

• In our element

• Engagement, flow

• Enjoyment, joy

• Need, part of identity

• Purpose, meaning

• Labour of love

• Relationship

• Home, secure base

The terms ‘Obsession’ and ‘Compulsion’ were generally seen as partially accurate, but they were felt to have too much negativity to capture the huge positive potential of SPINs to be:

• A joy-bringer

• A passion-stirrer

• A flow-state inducer (feeling “in our element”)

• A mastery challenge

The term ‘Fixation’ was definitely seen as missing the point! SPINs were generally seen as real, deep needs, driven by an autistic’s tendency towards:

• Exploration, discovery

• Pattern-seeking, systemising

• “Project thinking”

• Collecting, memorising

• “Over”-thinking

Engagement in SPINs was described as adding:

• Enjoyment and excitement

• A whole body feeling

• Creativity

• Purpose, meaning & structure

• A sense of expertise & control

• Purity, refinement, “rightness”, completeness, and occasionally perfection.

The experience of absorption and preoccupation with a SPIN was compared to

• Fascination

• Infatuation, being in love

• Attachment, relationship, friendship

• Feeling at home, a secure base

• Transcendental, religious, and spiritual feelings
  

Of course, like anything in life, SPINs can sometimes be associated with problems – neglect of other responsibilities; the pain of temporarily ‘running out of”’ SPINs; the frustration of not having access to a SPIN due to circumstances; the misunderstanding/criticism/ridicule one can experience.

If an autistic person is given half a chance to live the life they need to live (which unfortunately all too often is still not the case), SPINs can be an overwhelmingly positive and nourishing part of their life. And they are an essential area to explore in therapy with an autistic client.