Special Interest vs Hyper-fixation

What is the difference between an autistic special interest and an adhd hyper-fixation?

They are so often mistaken for each other, and sometimes people may use the words interchangeably. Although they do share some similarities, they are two very different things. It is important to remember that both a special interest and a hyper-fixation are also different to a regular hobby.

Let’s start with Special Interests
A special interest is an unusually intense and specific interest that an autistic person has. Autistic people can often become completely absorbed by their special interest. The difference between a special interest and a hobby is the level of intensity. It can consume large amounts of their lives, with them devoting excessive amounts of their time to their special interest, and often have very little interests outside it. It’s super important that autistic people have time to engage in their special interest, not only because they make us happy, but they can also be a way for us to self regulate. They can help us navigate day to day life, and offer us a needed sense of familiarity. Engaging regularly can help with emotional regulation and even help improve self esteem and are also a great tool to self soothe and regulate after meltdowns / shutdowns.

Special interests also provide the autistic person with structure and certainty, which is often needed for us to feel at ease.
They can also impact us negatively, especially if they become so intense that it is hard to think about anything else. It can cause a lot of external negativity through bullying and judgements from other people, making engaging in the special interest lonely. So whilst they are amazing, they also come with challenges.

Now, let’s talk about Hyper-Fixations
A hyper-fixation is an interest that can be all consuming, much like a special interest. A hyper-fixation is often short lived and very rarely lasting longer than a few weeks or months. When someone with ADHD is engaging in their current hyper-fixation, they can become lost in the interest, and spend prolonged periods of time totally “fixated” on the interest. This can lead the adhder to lose track of time, meaning they forget to eat, drink, use the bathroom or engage in other activities or daily routines. For many of us adheres, we tend to have new hyper-fixations seemingly regularly as it is a way for us to get a huge hit of dopamine. We will engage in the interest intensely for a period of time before growing bored of it once the dopamine we got from it is “used up”. So often we will have thoughts such as “this is going to be the hobby that sticks” or “I can totally turn this into a career of some sort”.
Much like engaging in a special interest is important, so is engaging in hyperfixations.
They can help us with maintaining our focus, and giving us a sense of achievement. Engaging in our hyper-fixations can also help us improve our self esteem, build confidence, and lead us to developing new skills.
Something to remember, although we may develop numerous new skills through our hyper fixations, we can also just as easily forget them once we are no longer fixated. Please know that doesn’t mean that it was “pointless” or that you didn’t learn anything. Sometimes the skills we learn aren’t directly linked to the specific fixation.

So, what is the difference?
The difference between a special interest and a hyper fixation is that
A special interest is often a long-term intense interest that an autistic person has. And uses it to regulate, self sooth, improve emotional regulation and offer a sense of familiarity.

A hyper-fixation is often a short-lived intense interest that an ADHD person engages in, that releases a burst of dopamine and offers a sense of achievement and enjoyment.

Remember

having and engaging in a special interest or hyper-fixation is not childish. It is not harmful and is not something you need to stop doing or feel ashamed of.

You are allowed to engage in, enjoy and talk about your special interest / hyper-fixations!

Have a super good day!

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