Hyperfocus

What it is and how it relates to ADD

Published on April 30, 2004 By mrperky In Health & Medicine

It's well established that the ADD child or adult has significant problems in paying attention. Much of the misperceptions of the disorder arise from the fact that nearly all of us at times have problems in paying attention. In contrast, the ADD sufferer has problems in paying attention _all_ the time. A frequent characteristic of the ADD sufferer seems to belie that claim. They seem to be able to pay inordinate amounts of attention to whatever they want, sometimes paying an extraordinary amount of attention to playing a game, reading a book, talking on the phone, or watching a television program.

This act of concentration is know as hyperfocus. When I was first seeking an ADD diagnosis, I told my counselor that I didn't see how I could have ADD. Indeed, just a few nights earlier I had completed an entire novel (SF, of course

in the six hour time span from 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM. If I had trouble paying attention, I reasoned, then how was I able to pay attention for that entire length of time? My therapy then introduced me to hyperfocus and I had a name for this interesting characteristic of ADD.

ADD sufferers will sometimes hyperfocus on a desired subject in order to accomplish a task. This is very similar to "paying attention" as non-ADD people will do. With so many distractions, we have to narrow our field of attention to a specific task, blocking out distractions like a person might block out the cold weather by pulling a blanket closer around them. This level of concentration far exceeds what a non-ADD person has to do because the ADD person has to not only concentrate on the subject, they also have to concentrate on blocking out other distractions.

This level of concentration is an acquired skill. It is one of the methods that Adult ADD sufferers develop as a means of coping with ADD. This coping strategy is rarely, if ever, taught in a school, instead it is learned by experience. Hyperfocusing is also somewhat of a chameleon skin that we can use to make ourselves blend in with society. We struggle to blend in because we receive so much negative energy from those around us who insist that we are "normal" and that we must act "normally".

My routine day is filled with hyperfocus. With a few exceptions, if I do not hyperfocus on a task, it will not get done. Those exceptions are usually _very_ routine things that I do each day without fail (brush teeth, shave, go to work, etc). As an example, I know that flossing my teeth is a beneficial task because my dentist tells me so. So I should do it each day without fail. However, I have fallen out of that habit. Getting started back again is a major undertaking for me. Its not that I need to be reminded, its that I have to hyperfocus on the task so that I can prioritize it correctly and get the task done. A reminder note or to do list will not sufficiently help me to pay attention to this detail. Without hyperfocusing, I forget or otherwise will not perform this task, thereby bringing the lifespan of my teeth to a premature end.

Once I am hyperfocusing on a task, say reading a book or playing online Scrabble, that task gets all my attention. Attempts to communicate with me during that time are seen as distractions and are irritating. It is physically hard to break the hyperfocus, then concentrate on another task, and then to resume the hyperfocus. Frequently, after I read a book for hours, I am literally a zombie afterwards because I cannot easily break the hyperfocus.

My day is a regular pattern of moving from hyperfocused task to hyperfocused task. Each task requires my undivided attention and each distraction lengthens the time required to complete the task. I am a computer programmer by day and as such am very aware of the tasks that I need to do to complete a project. I regularly cannot produce projects within the required time frame. My only hope is to physically sequester myself in order to reduce distractions. Indeed, so much of the time I seem to be actively seeking distractions in order to fuel the inner ADD beast.

Each article that I have written here has required this level of concentration. It has pleased me thus far that I have been able to dedicate this much effort to maintaining this blog. My efforts have reflected the importance of this writing in my life.

-- MrPerky

Comments

Draginol

on May 01, 2004

Good stuff.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!