Do you have hyperfixations?

[avieators]

I am autistic and have them! I used “neurodivergent” to include both ADHD and autism

edit: and people say other mental illnesses can have them. I don’t wanna discredit anyone lol

ah yeah i meant that more as a disclaimer that i'm not neurotypical, as i havent been clinically diagnosed yet and i've seen ppl get upset when neurotypical ppl use the term hyperfixation! no worries!

 

[neoratz]

this might sound a little silly but i'm autistic and i've never felt like the term hyperfixation quite fits me! i have stuff i'm like really into and obsessed with and talk about ALL THE TIME but i don't feel like i experience things... "strong enough" for me to call it that??? like i am very passionate about the stuff i love but i can't always remember a bunch of tiny facts or come up with stuff to talk about for them nonstop days in a row like others can.... does anyone else get this kinda feeling? maybe it's just some internalized thing, or maybe i misunderstand the term, who knows o_O

 

[ReeBear]

this might sound a little silly but i'm autistic and i've never felt like the term hyperfixation quite fits me! i have stuff i'm like really into and obsessed with and talk about ALL THE TIME but i don't feel like i experience things... "strong enough" for me to call it that??? like i am very passionate about the stuff i love but i can't always remember a bunch of tiny facts or come up with stuff to talk about for them nonstop days in a row like others can.... does anyone else get this kinda feeling? maybe it's just some internalized thing, or maybe i misunderstand the term, who knows o_O

I sleepy brain but not clicking with certain terms is perfectly normal! Also autism being a spectrum, we're not all gonna work the same way or experience the same things :3
I think I'm similar to you - I obsess and I collect but don't necessarily know the minute details of the things I'm interested in :3

 

[cornimer]

Yes I've had intense hyperfixations my whole life, though I don't believe I have autism or ADHD so I'm curious as to if they're associated with other mental illnesses? But interests are pretty much all or nothing for me - either I think about the thing I'm interested in 24/7 and I know an abnormal amount of details about it, or I don't really care. I don't think I know how to be casually interested in something haha. For example I was into the musical Hamilton in high school and I listened to the soundtrack daily, had all the lyrics memorized, had seen every behind-the-scenes video about the cast on YouTube, ordered merch from the official store online even though it was hella expensive to get it shipped to Canada, had a Hamilton calendar & giant book analyzing all the scenes in my room.....I think you get the point! My fixations are usually at their peak for about a year.

 

[shion]

yup! adhd haver and i get a little embarrassed by hyper fixating just because i will infodump about whatever i'm obsessed with and i think my friends get a little bored of me bringing up the same thing over and over again...

 

[idiotdoomspiral]

though I don't believe I have autism or ADHD so I'm curious as to if they're associated with other mental illnesses?

i think that people with anxiety, depression and/or psychotic disorders can experience hyperfixation as well, probably quite a few more but those are the examples i know about

 

[cornimer]

i think that people with anxiety, depression and/or psychotic disorders can experience hyperfixation as well, probably quite a few more but those are the examples i know about

Ah I have anxiety and a type of depression so that explains it, thanks!

 

[avieators]

reading some more responses here and i'm thinking hyperfixation can definitely be claimed by neurodivergent ppl in general, it seems like it affects far more ppl outside adhd and autism...thats what i get for listening to twitter which is notoriously addicted to performative outrage ig!

 

[visibleghost]

i'm autistic and was told i don't seem to have special interests when i was diagnosed, but i think that was mostly because i was mega depressed and didn't find joy in anything. i think i would count animal crossing as one of my long time special interests but idk i don't really care if it is a special interest/hyperfixation or a normal interest that i'm rly into, and i just hpapen to be autistic. so yea.h

 

[Corrie]

I don't know if I'd call it hyperfixation exactly but I get crazy obsessed with shows or games. It isn't even funny lol. I go all in, buy all the merch, write fics, and think about it daily. It can go on for years, depending on the series/game. It's a totally fun time though so I don't mind! I just have to be careful I don't spend too much money on it. I have an impulsive personality that is luckily controlled decently enough by guilt so that helps me not go broke lol.

 

[Midoriya]

Yes, too many of them to count to be honest. I was born with Aspergers/ASD, so...

 

[Halloqueen]

I would say that I fixate, but probably not hyperfixate. I'll get really interested in something and really immerse myself into it for months, usually to the exclusion of other interests, then at some point I'll move onto the next thing. There are certain of these interests that I'm consistently passionate about even if I'm not actively fixated on them, but I reckon that hyperfixation is distinct from this sort of behavior.

 

[mermaidshelf]

yeah. im on the spectrum. ive learned to kind of hide them from strangers and act casual. my friends are understanding although my parents aren't. i do think that games like animal crossing tend to attract a lot of neurodivergent people so the poll results arent surprising to me.

 

[Yoshisaur]

Yes! I was really into various celebrities in high school, neopets in middle school/high school, fifth harmony in college, and various things as an adult. They've gotten much more boring through the years. Recently I spent all of my time trying to get as much information on buying a house as possible. All I did for weeks was ask anyone I knew about buying/owning a house. I kinda let that one go. I hope I pick back up on it bc if I stay obsessed with it, I think I could move into a house much quicker.

 

[bleached]

I've hyperfixated on different things all my life, and I never understood why until I found out about my autism (around a year or so ago) and I think my anxiety might have a part in it too?? I'm not entirely sure ahah. I went so long without knowing why I got so attached to certain shows, characters or franchises because anytime I would ask someone about it, I'd always be told "everyone has an obsession with something - it doesn't make you different" which always frustrated me, since I knew there was no way being obsessed with something to the extent I sometimes got was normal :'P

I've hyperfixated on a few different things, for example during most of my childhood, Pokémon and My Little Pony were the only things I could think about and was the only things I was interested in. Then it was animes like Yuri on Ice and My Hero Academia (though I was really only interested in them for around a year, definitely not as long as my Pokémon obsessed lmao). Now it's kpop. It's one of the few things I like and it makes me insanely happy :] Sorry for the long post, I just never really explain my hyperfixations to anyone lol

 

[6iixx]

to be honest, i had no idea what this term was until now. and i probably could have gone my entire life without being able to classify it without any skin off my back.

i deal with a lot of stuff on a regular basis, so when it comes to routine and doing the things that i enjoy doing, i definitely get "sucked" into them. like animal crossing, crocheting.. i find myself falling into the same base routine of games and what i do in said games. when i do branch out to other games (for example, i picked up oblivion on sale around christmas to revisit it) i get sucked into those as well, but it's more of a temporary sense. i'll play oblivion for 3-4 hours straight, not want to do anything else, and then be done with it for several days because i'm going back to my usual set base of routine of hobbies; animal crossing, overwatch, and crocheting. those are my main three that take the cake every single time and i can't get away from them - not that i want to.

there's a.. small sense in comfort in revisiting the same things every day for me. my mind is chaotic enough as it is a lot of the time, and trying to constantly take in new things can be really hard for me. with me getting so emotionally sucked into the things that i do as well (or play, don't even get me started on dragon age) it's not always the best for me to branch out from what i'm familiar and comfortable with.

it's the reason i haven't stopped repeating the office episodes since i discovered it; there's millions of other TV series that i haven't even batted an eyelash at because i'm comfortable in my own bubble of already knowing what to expect. and i'm happy here.

 

[princess.looking.for.frog]

Practically anything I find and I think it is the best thing ever, and Ill do anything to spend time doing that thing. For example I was soo into Animal Jam as a kid and that was all i did. I played it so much and I wanted to go out and buy the little figurines of the game. I also wanted to spend like 100~ dollars on a membership. Like what? Then I suddenly just didnt like it anymore and quit, like huh??

 

[Seastar]

I probably have/had about a hundred of these. Sometimes I even get back into old obsessions I forgot about. It's crazy.

 

[kusariyaro]

Bit of a weird question but I’m wondering how many people have hyperfixations in the animal crossing community since maybe more bigger fans here?

if you don’t know what it is, something neurodivergent people have.

i do, although they change every few months. my current hyperfixations are gintama (very big) and ace attorney

 

[Croconaw]

I don’t think so. There are things I’m interested in, but I don’t see them as hyperfixations. I focus on things like video games or if I’m doing something on my phone, but I don’t completely block out everything else. If someone’s calling me, I’ll hear it and I try to always be aware of my surroundings. There are times where I’ll be lost in thought, but I don’t think that’s the same thing and it definitely doesn’t happen all the time.

I don’t think hyperfixations are a bad thing. If you’re super passionate about something, I see no issues in enjoying it. It’s nice to have things that interest you to a point where you’re genuinely interested and it’s not just “hey, this is cool, I guess.”