Interestbased

Interestbased refers to a system whose functions are affected by the system's interests in some ways. The term is inclusive of regular interests as well as special interests or hyperfixations. Our system coined this word for ourselves because we usually dislike categorizing our interests as special interests or hyperfixations.

While we do have autism and do undeniably experience special interests, we also recognize that a special interest is a symptom of a disorder (autism), and while there's nothing wrong with having, liking, or engaging with a special interest, we also find the language a little bit pathologizing, and that's not how we prefer to think of our interests. It can also be hard to tell if something fully counts as a special interest or not, like when it's hard to tell if you're having clinical paranoia or being reasonably wary.

We normally tend to get introjects from things we're interested in, which is a common system experience. However, we also get headmates who split as holders for our interests, where their role is to front while we engage with the interest. While we have not formally coined the term, we use the role "interestnaut" to describe a headmate who fronts while interacting with an interest.

We are interested in a variety of topics, and we sometimes get stuck on one topic or interest if the same headmate or structure fronts for too long, so our management shifts help us maintain balance in our engagement with our interests, which is not just a part of general mental wellness but part of our belief in ma'at (balance) as a Kemeticist.