Worried about daughter's new obsession

Hello, I’m new!

I’m Mum of a  gorgeous teenage daughter who was diagnosed Aspergers when she was 14 , she's now 17, following an eating problem. I often thought she was before she was diagnosed, from a very young age I knew she had certain difficulties, that she might be on the autism spectrum and overall she received very good care, has recovered from her eating disorder and is on the whole doing very well. I’m glad we were listened to.

The reason I’ve joined this forum is because I’m a bit worried. The reason being my daughter has always had seemingly random obsessions (some make her happy, and some, like her issues with food, don’t) and recently her focus seems to be, and I don’t know where she got this from, on HIV/Aids. She is very indignant about how people treat people with HIV and about the wrong beliefs people have on how it can be passed on. Of course it’s good for her to be aware of these things, I’m all for people educating themselves for the sake of their health and the health of others, and it’s good she knows things now about a very stigmatized illness and therefore if she comes across someone in her life who is effected she is unlikely to be iignorant and insensitive as some people unfortunately might be. The only issue I have is that I don’t know where this has come from and I think it’s a rather unhealthy thing for someone to be intensely focussed on, but when she becomes obsessed there’s not a lot  anyone  can do – is this a common sort of thing? Does anyone have any advice, or can throw any  light on where this might have sprung from?Any advice would be so appreciated.

Thank you,

YetAnotherMummy

Parents
  • Hi YETANOTHERMUMMY

    I can so relate to what you are saying.My 17 year old son who has Asperegers constantly gets obsessions.He is obsessed currrently with world leaders and politics at the moment and as you say good to take an intrest and be aware of things but in his case it goes way over the top.It affects his interaction with others as they don't want to hear non stop talk on such things.He will get up in the morning and not understand why other Family members do not want a hashing over of politics at 7am and can get beligerent when asked if the person could have a break from the subject!!

    He was much less obsessional when taking his meds,aripriprazole and seemed happier in himself and much more sociable but unfortuntaly my ex husband is very anti meds and told him not to take as he was being poisoned and subdued:-( Sadly this ste off an obsession against meds.

    My older son who has High functioning Autism is much less obessional but his obsessions are not ones which affect his interactiosn with others.Gor instance he keeps a jar of every headphone he ever had.When they no longer work he chops off the headphones and puts them in a jar.Totally harmless and I have got him another jar as this one is becoming filled up.

    I thionk the critera for obsessions is how they impact on a persons daily life and their interactions with others.Some obsessions have enabled aspies to suceed very well in their choosen jobs.One aspie friend of my oldest son is obsessed with trains and has got a job with British rail which he is really enjoying.

Reply
  • Hi YETANOTHERMUMMY

    I can so relate to what you are saying.My 17 year old son who has Asperegers constantly gets obsessions.He is obsessed currrently with world leaders and politics at the moment and as you say good to take an intrest and be aware of things but in his case it goes way over the top.It affects his interaction with others as they don't want to hear non stop talk on such things.He will get up in the morning and not understand why other Family members do not want a hashing over of politics at 7am and can get beligerent when asked if the person could have a break from the subject!!

    He was much less obsessional when taking his meds,aripriprazole and seemed happier in himself and much more sociable but unfortuntaly my ex husband is very anti meds and told him not to take as he was being poisoned and subdued:-( Sadly this ste off an obsession against meds.

    My older son who has High functioning Autism is much less obessional but his obsessions are not ones which affect his interactiosn with others.Gor instance he keeps a jar of every headphone he ever had.When they no longer work he chops off the headphones and puts them in a jar.Totally harmless and I have got him another jar as this one is becoming filled up.

    I thionk the critera for obsessions is how they impact on a persons daily life and their interactions with others.Some obsessions have enabled aspies to suceed very well in their choosen jobs.One aspie friend of my oldest son is obsessed with trains and has got a job with British rail which he is really enjoying.

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