A few blurbs I found regarding Hyperfocus

[Wisefolly]

Unfortunately, I seem to hyperfocus on something extremely well while I am procrastinating. I'll hyperfocus on what ever will capture my interest at the moment. Tonight it has been this website and the various links I've clicked through on it. This is all too common for me when I go online. It's like a hyperfocus on just bringing in loads of information. I wish I could hyperfocus on a book! It's always frustrating that I like to read, but I can't ever concentrate long enough to finish a darn book!

I should have been studying for the GRE tonight. I should have been in bed hours ago. Part of the problem tonight may be that I took a second dose of Adderal way too late. My doctor prescribes 2 doses a day, but he is aware that I usually only take one unless I really need it. I considered studying a case of really needing it. It's working a little bit, I can tell but not enough to keep me from hyperfocusing. I took it at 7:00 PM tonight, and I'm not on a slow release, so I thought for sure it would wear off by around midnight, but here I am...

Going to get some water to study more for now.

Math, blech!

[Wisefolly]

Just realized that I forgot to post a question that I wanted to ask in my last reply. It was actually the reason I replied. (Looks like the Adderal may have worn off after-all. Maybe it's just the anxiousness keeping me up now. I think I'm finally starting to get tired. Yeah!)

Anyhow, the question...

Have any of you figured out how to stop the hyperfocus when it starts? While I have found the hyperfocus helpful on a couple of occassions (researching a project, catching up on work I've put off), most of the time it causes more problems than it helps. For example, when I was in school, I would start researching for a paper, but I wouldn't be able to stop (usually resulting in too much info). In one case, I picked my topic and started research a week before it was assigned and still managed to turn the paper in about a week late!

Most of the time it affects me when there is something I'm putting off and I'm procrastinating. I have absolutely no self control, and I can't seem to stop myself. This is to the point where I have skipped meals. (So yes, that time that I researched printers, I may have absolutely bought the best one, but I didn't need to take hours on end and skip dinner to do it.)

Do you have a technique you use to stop hyperfocusing on the wrong thing when there is something else you should be focusing on? I've tried the timers, but I seem to tell myself five more minutes, or I don't catch myself when I start, so I don't set the timer. Maybe there is a way to ease into it or to shift into something else briefly first to allow my brain to "change gears?" I could still use the timer though as the trigger, and then maybe eventually (through repetition) I wouldn't need something else to switch to before I go to the proper task.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I really am tired now and must go to bed. I had trouble getting the last part of that post out, but I know I needed to do that before going to sleep, or I won't ever write it, and then I'll forget to visit the forumns for a month.

Goodness... rambling... must. sleep.

[krazy_mountain]

I used to hyperfocus on videogames when I was younger. I used to play hours on end. One reason I avoid video games as an adult.
I have a new hyperfocus addiction: chatting. I love to have multiple windows open and chatting with people in cyberspace. Whenever the chat slows down, I text someone new...just to keep it busy. I can focus like that for hours. I lose myself and love that feeling of just losing myself.

I had a few questions:
* How is hyper focus different from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder).

* I am a big fan of the the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his books. He coined a concept called flow which is fascinating. Infact, hyper-focussing and flow sound like they are really similar. I think everybody can experience flow when they find the right activity. It's just that ADDers hit flow quicker and easier (on things that they are interested in) because of their ability to hyperfocus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

Of the 9 symptoms of experiencing flow, all seem to apply to hyper-focus except #7


Csikszentmihalyi identifies the following as accompanying an experience of flow:

1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities).
2. Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
4. Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered.
5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
9. People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975. p.72).

[krazy_mountain]

Well, apparantly I wasn't the only person who saw a connection between flow and hyperfocussing. A quick search in google produced a whole bunch of hits.

Here is one person's opinion:
http://www.addexecutive.com/2007/12/...cs-hyperfocus/

My take on this is that while Flow and Hyperfocus (as commonly understood right now) share characteristics, but aren’t the same thing. While we adults with attention deficit disorder may experience both flow and hyperfocus from time to time, we may find it useful to pay attention to the subtleties of each experience so that we know which one we’re grooving in, and how we got there. With this knowledge, we might have a chance at choosing whether and when to attempt a repeat engagement.

Another:
http://www.dirhody.com/discanner/giftedad.html

Gifted children with AD/HD also find completing tasks less rewarding than do other gifted children, that is, for many, the intrinsic reward of completion is not as satisfying to them. On the other hand, when working on a self-chosen activity, gifted children, with and without AD/HD, are able to immerse themselves in the task and work for long hours without much external reinforcement. This ability to hyperfocus, the falling into "flow" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996), is what makes creative work so satisfying to so many gifted children, whatever their other problems.

Hmmm I seem to be on to something.

[rubychild]

I do that. For random reasons I'll just get completely obsessed with a task and will spend hours and hours on it - whether it gets done or not isn't really a factor, it's pretty much until I get bored with it. Sometimes the obsession lasts for days. My non-ADD husband laughs at me and says I'm crazy because I can't focus on dinner long enough to remember to close the microwave but will spend all day organizing the storage closet!

[ADDAWAY]

I too am a big fan, but I think that #7 does apply:

It's control over ourselves that is lacking in hyperfocus, rather than control over the situation or activity.

Originally Posted by krazy_mountain

I am a big fan of the the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his books. He coined a concept called flow which is fascinating. Infact, hyper-focussing and flow sound like they are really similar. I think everybody can experience flow when they find the right activity. It's just that ADDers hit flow quicker and easier (on things that they are interested in) because of their ability to hyperfocus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

Of the 9 symptoms of experiencing flow, all seem to apply to hyper-focus except #7


Csikszentmihalyi identifies the following as accompanying an experience of flow:



Quote:

[shockfx13]

Originally Posted by Eaglehawk

Am I the only one that when I hyperfocus my medicne seems to wear off in less time then it should, and when I come out of the hyperfocus I feel drained like I've been working on something for days without sleeping?

I'm exactly like that.

[Pure_Ignorance]

hmmm... It's 4:00 am and on a whim I've just spent six and a half hours reading a huge amount of stuff on the net trying to find out why my brain works this way, not to mention this thread from start to finish, which (in a beautifully ironic way) summarises and paraphrases some of the stuff I've just been hyperfocused on.

Hyperfocused, I like that and I think it's a better fit for myself than ADD or high functioning Autism. The DSM-IV questions for diagnosing Adult ADHD/ADD in particular(except for the few about being distracted easily) relate to things which could easily be being experienced because of hyperfocus, rather than being co-symptoms of a seperate disorder. I just wish I could find more research in that direction.


The problem with discerning pure hyperfocus from hyperfocus associated with other disorders is that, similar to Adult ADD sufferers, hyperfocused people don't facilitate medical research very well. People this talented and incompatible with society will either find a way to live with it, underacheiving spectacularly (that's a big reason 10% of my country's prison population is estimated to be hyperfocused), have the financial and social resources (or even luck) at hand to thrive in their eccentricity, or piggyback their way to help by allowing themselves to be misdiagnosed as suffering (or as a consequence of hyperfocus developing) any one of a number of genuine disorders which also exhibit hyperfocus as an indicator.

I can't seem to find any research purely into Hyperfocus, or dealing with hyperfocus as a discrete anomaly. The one thing hyperfocussed people are unlikely to do,since it is so much more difficult than the three options above for such people, is to tenaciously instigate such investigation, either by themselves or by chasing a real explanation from health professionals. This is the more worthy goal, having the medical establishment reassess it's thinking on the nature of thought processes, and the current categorisation of these into 'healthy' and 'unhealthy'. Not to mention the integration into 'normal' society of these abnormal thinkers, who have such a different experience of time and purpose that they have been so often marginalised despite posessing valuable talents.

Well, I may not have found any concrete answers as to what hyperfocus is, or how to live with it, but it has been a great relief to hear that I am not alone. Suffice to say that it literally brings tears to my eyes. Cheers and best of luck to you all.

Oh, and as for bringing on the hyperfocus? I just choose to make that one thing (or area) the most important thing. Like in meditation, I remove everything else from my world, I ignore it and don't give it another thought, leaving room only for what it is I'm going to focus on. time doesn't exist, everything is on autopilot, making coffee, going to the loo, other people. That's how I enter the hyperfocussed state on purpose, But it can also happen accidentally. I have no idea how to stop, either I get to the end of the task at hand , I run out of energy, or someone makes me come back.

[bvn65]

I "deep subroutine" (hyperfocus) all the time. When I was younger I could work productively on a project for nearly 14 hours straight - with minor annoyances like going to bathroom, eating, and having to answer people. It is an enjoyable state of mind. I can also go "walk-about" and lose all sense of time while walking or hiking.
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I just lack the "typical and expected" amount of control (will power) to direct my focus by means of rational thought. Where my focus winds up is not much different than trying to hold one's breath for hours only to find that one is breathing for some unaccountable reason. I also "drift off" a lot. I have almost no control over my "attention span" - short or long term. I find that I can use adrenaline causing behavior (in self) to provide a temporary "override". Note: this is not socially acceptable.
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I have read about a psychological thing called a "fugue state" that describes my hyperfocus experience quite accurately.
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I have been formally diagnosed as having ADHD and take 108mg of Concerta (which makes my wife feel better:-). I do not believe that I have a "disorder", but rather that I have inherited a brain organization that did not make the agrarian adaptation (possessed by over 95% of the population).

[addguy19833]

well im in the gifted range of IQ 140 and i rarely have hyperfocusing , unless im reading a very interesting topic , reading the laster harry potter novel , playin games or watchin a movie !
still im 0 ability to contol attention in class , conferences and other "boring " events

[triton]

I just joined thsi forum and this thread definatly struck a chord with me! i have a tendancy to hyperfocus a LOT, i can read a novel in one sitting, play a game for hours on end, read massive internet threads begining to end and also dont like to be interrupted! glad to know that this has a proper name lol. expect more posts from me in the future as i try to get a handle on my own ADD (and wether or not i have aspergers which may be related to this)

[ADDdiva]

Question: Does hyperfocused also mean obsessed?

Also, what people don't realize is that hyperfocus doesn't mean that you are only focused on one thing. Say a child is playing a video game for hours and hours. They could be thinking hundreds of things ABOUT the video game. It's like going to a library, then going to the science fiction section and browsing around.

Stimulus is an important factor as well, at least to me. If something is too easy, I get bored and don't want to do it anymore. To keep my attention, it has to have multiple areas to explore in my mind, more than one color, more than one subject...of course, this ends up being my downfall because of mental multitasking.

[Addr68]

For me, hyperfocus can be positive, and at times it can make me pause. One of the good attributes of being hyper-focus is that I can follow up on my lead's and close the sale. I'm at the top of my game!

An example of a moment where hyperfocus can make me pause is: I'm replying to an email (office work or personel) and I get off the main topic and focus all my mental energy on a sub-point...hit the send botton....pause and say to myself, "what did I just do".

[Jillipepper]

When I was going thru testing to confirm diag. I was asked sooooooo many questions!! One was how I managed in school and tests. If I could focus to pay attention I had a photographic memory and have been accused of cheating on exams as I could picture the text or the teacher in my mind and recall word for word the exact info given for a question. I ended having to prove to them I could do it before they'd give me the mark I deserved.
Fortunately it was on a subject I really liked so proved it in no time.
Their responce was to ask why , if I could do that, why wasn't I getting better marks in everything. I told them it was a pretty clear indication of which teachers made subjects interesting and so kept me interested and focused.
Too bad it ran out or was medicated away as it doesn't work that way anymore, I have crappy memory now but I guess it could be age related too.

[RobConcept]

Wow!

What an incredible thread - incredibly long lasting and definitely insightful.

Rather than rehashing what has been said already so many times and just changing the variables so that it applies to me, I'd just like to ask a question of everyone who has posted or continues to look at this thread:

How do you guide your hyper focus?