Hyperfocus

There are times when hyperfocusing is my best friend and times when its my worst enemy!  For those unfamiliar with what it is, it’s a hallmark of ADD. 

From http://www.adhdnews.com/testforum/test689.htm:
Its 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 couse 🙂 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 suffererers 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 hyperfocuson 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.

From http://user.cybrzn.com/~kenyonck/add/hyperfocus_paradox.html :
Most people with ADD have a tendency to "hyperfocus" – focus very very strongly on something which interests them.

ADD is a neurological difference that makes it very difficult to attend to things which are not interesting to the person involved. Note, I didn’t say "not important" but "not interesting." In fact, for a person with ADD, the harder he/she tries to concentrate/focus on something that is not interesting to that person, the harder it gets to do so! The part of the brain used for focusing shuts down! When that same person is working on something that is interesting, it can be almost impossible to get that person to switch attention elsewhere.

One of the ADD misconceptions lists on the Internet is that provided by "ADD and Challenged Individuals"

1. Children who can focus their attention in some areas (i.e. Legos, drawing, video games) cannot have ADD.
2. Since the child with ADD can focus when he/she "wants to", punishment will serve to help that child behave and focus when he/she becomes distracted.
3. All children with ADD are hyperactive.
4. ADD is not a proven disorder, it is currently controversial.
5. All doctors are trained to diagnose ADD.
6. All teachers are trained to recognize and/ or diagnose ADD.
7. ADD can only be diagnosed by a doctor.
8. Medication is the only intervention for ADD.
9. Once a child is given medication, he/she will always be able to learn and attend in the classroom.
10. Schools can insist that parents medicate their children for ADD.
11. The medication used for ADD will cause addiction.
12. Children outgrow ADD.
13. ADD is caused by poor parenting.
14. Behavior modification always works for a child with ADD.
15. Children with ADD listen better in class if they sit still and do not fidget.

Both extreme clutter and extreme perfectionism/neatness can be hallmarks of a person with ADD. No psychological test / computer test / or even short period of observation by a treatment professional can diagnose ADD. The best method of diagnosis is a thorough history taken by someone who knows what ADD looks like in adults / children. This has to be coupled with a medical examination / tests for other conditions such as thyroid disorder (which has most of the same symptoms as ADD) or depression. (A diagnosis of depression does **not** preclude ADD, just makes it harder to decide; a person can have both ADD and depression. Sometimes the ADD symptoms cause a person to be depressed!)

 For people with ADD there is treatment available which is effective for most. For those with ADD it can make their clutter problem much easier to deal with.

Last night I got offline around 11 and went upstairs and was listening to an audiobook while doing some scrapbook stuff (specifically, my create-a-calendar) and the next thing I know, it’s 1 in the morning…I’d intended to be in bed by midnight so I could easily be up at 8:30 so I could take my meds.  Hyperfocus is best when you can make it work for you, but that’s hard to do.  The point above that for someone with ADD, the more they try to focus on something uninteresting, the harder it becomes to focus on it is absolutely true.  So to tell someone with ADD to focus more or try harder on something that’s uninteresting only compounds the problem.  Furthermore, the fact that it gets harder to focus on uninteresting tasks is not something someone with ADD can control or do anything about.  So the harder it gets to focus on something (especially something uninteresting but very important), the more they get frustrated. 

When I think of some other misconceptions about ADD, I immediately think of the difference between boys and girls.  The simple physiology of boys and girls is very different.  At least to me, that would suggest that ADD might not show up the same way in boys and in girls.  For so long, ADD was primarily diagnosed in boys because teachers and parents could see the overt hyperactivity component. But when girls have the hyperactivity component, it doesn’t show up the same way.  You see more fidgeting, more of the social butterfly aspects – both very different than the typical hyperactivity seen in boys.  Then of course, there’s the thought that gifted children can’t have ADD.  Trust me when I say that’s just not true.  In fact, the gifted children with ADD are the ones getting the shaft.  I was a gifted child throughout my elementary, middle, and a good chunk of my high school years.  But I have ADD.  Thanks to the structure of school until you reach the upper levels of high school, I could compensate.  There was homework every night that I did because I didn’t want the feelings that came when I didn’t do it – the feelings of inadequacy and failure so I became almost a perfectionist.  I was smart enough to get by only picking up every other or every third word the teacher said.  As a result, I didn’t have to do the reading assignments as I got farther along.  My big problems came when I hit college because I couldn’t just get by.  I had to do the reading – something that had always been a problem.  I’m a great reader when it comes to novels and other things that interest me, but you give me a textbook and it’s a real struggle.  The actual lectures were longer and required more focus than in high school and there was no homework that got handed in on a daily basis – it was all reading. 

So hyperfocusing – good and bad….