This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 129.240.124.27 (talk) at 16:40, 23 May 2005 (I felt the existing entry was incorrect and tried to add alternative points of view in a NPOV way, with evidence.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 16:40, 23 May 2005 by 129.240.124.27 (talk) (I felt the existing entry was incorrect and tried to add alternative points of view in a NPOV way, with evidence.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Hyperfocus has been suggested to be a mental state often associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a human psychiatric disorder often diagnosed in childhood which is thought to continue into adulthood for about 30% of individuals, and is then commonly known as adult attention-deficit disorder (AADD).
ADHD is a neurological difference that makes it very difficult to attend to things which are not interesting to the person involved. For a person with ADHD, the harder he/she tries to concentrate/focus on something that is not interesting to that person, the harder it becomes to do so.
One view is "Most people with ADHD have a tendency to "hyperfocus" - focus very strongly on something which interests them. When that same person is working on something that is interesting, it can be almost impossible to get that person to switch attention elsewhere. For some individuals, hyperfocus may be a very positive aspect ADHD. When they are "in gear", they claim to be very happy and may be very creative. Many of history's most famous and creative persons are thought to have had ADHD and displayed hyperfocus in their behavior."
However, hyperfocus is not a medically recognised term; it is not in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual; and no article using the term appears in PubMed. Various special abilities have been suggested to occur in ADHD, including vigilance, response-readiness, enthusiasm, and flexibility (Jensen et al, J.Am.Acad.Ch.Ad.Psychiatry 36(12) 1997; Hartmann 1993: ADD: A different perception), but these are not actually characteristic of ADHD (Goldstein and Barkley, ADHD Report 6(5) 1998). Greater creativity has alsobeen suggested (Shelley-Tremblay and Rosen 1996) but formal measures of this are no higher in children with ADHD than in controls (Funk et al.Pediatrics 91(4) 1993).
There are several possible reasons for the persistence of the notion that people with ADHD have special abilities: (a) wishful thinking (b) well-recognised comorbidity of ADHD with autistic spectrum disorders, of which excess focus is a part; (c) ADHD is a highly heterogeneous condition; special abilities certainly do occur in some people, and it is easy to overgeneralise from this minority to the whole ADHD group. (d) ADHD is a remarkably common primarily genetically determined disorder (4-8% of school age children) so it difficult to see why evolution hasn't removed it unless it bestows some benefit.
See also
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD and ADHD)
- Adult attention-deficit disorder (adult ADD or AADD)
- List of famous people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
- hunter vs. farmer theory