Talk:Hyperfocus

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Contents 1 Treatment 2 Rename page? 3 Evolution? 4 I love it 5 "According to the dictionary" 6 Revision to reflect subject matter 7 Questions 8 NPOV 9 Relevant to include? 10 Specify

[edit] Treatment

There's a section titled 'Treatment' but it doesn't go on to actually mention anything about treatments at all.

80.126.65.34 22:59, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rename page?

Should this page be renamed "Special abilities in ADHD"?

Perhaps there should be a page on special abilities associated with psychiatric disorders, including Autistic savant, hyper-imagination (listed in Bipolar_disorder) -- see List of people believed to have been affected by bipolar disorder; the Perfectionism (psychology) of obsessive-compulsive disorder. A closely related topic is Evolutionary psychology but the two topics should be kept separate to avoid confusion and unnecessary controversy.

[edit] Evolution?

The author's statement that "it is difficult to see why evolution hasn't removed it unless it bestows some benefit" is without proper logic. Evolution does not simply keep beneficial traits and eliminate negative traits. If a trait does not interfere with an organism's ability to reproduce in its life, it will not be eliminated from the gene pool. Even though ADHD hasn't been removed does not mean in any way that it is positive, it only means that it may not be hindering the sexual activity of humans. Also, evolution can take obscene ammounts of time for an entire trait to be removed completely from the gene pool, so a relatively newly discovered (1902) disorder should not have already been removed from human genetics.

umm, it presumably has been around for a very long time, even if it was first clinically described in 1902. plus, there's more to passing on genes than sexual activity. for example, providing enough resources for one's offspring to survive springs to mind. hyperfocus seems likely to have a role there, though whether it's beneficial or harmful likely depends on the circumstances. Derex 05:39, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

I guess I need to read the rules, but the evolution statement in the article makes absolutly no sense, can it just be removed?

I think it makes sense. And its a good counterweight to make the article more NPOV after all statements of anti-ness in society against ADHD.

To me it doesn't make sense and should be removed. Evolution definately keeps negative traits around - e.g. susceptibility to diabetes, cancer. Cpc464 13:28, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Diabetes and cancer had virtually nil effect on human reproduction before large populations of people had access to the nutrition, protection, and medical care for them to be common medical problems (young people still rarely get cancer, diabetes is often a result of overexposure to sugar). Plus many negative traits have a silver lining that allows them to survive the evolutionary axe. Sickle-cell anemia causes no deficit in carriers and confers resistance to malaria. Hypothetically an allele of a gene that increases the chance of homosexuality in men could survive on the X-chromosome, so long as it also conferred a benefit to woman. So if ADHD exists in around 5% of the population, and has some obvious disadvantages (most obviously lack of self-control or inattentiveness), it's not such a terrible question to ask what benefits it might confer as well.Sean Patrick Santos 05:53, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I love it

Formal measures of creativity... ha. Nice to know that creativity is so well behaved that it easily allows itself to be measured by a formal procedure...

[edit] "According to the dictionary"

According to which dictionary? I'm reworking this

[edit] Revision to reflect subject matter

I've revised the article to focus on hyperfocus, not on ADHD. ADHD has its own article. oneismany 15:10, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Questions

Who coined the term "hyperfocus?" When? Why the etymology (hyper [above] + focus)? Have any scientific studies been done on it, or just philosophical speculations?

I can't find 'hyperfocus' in Wictionary, or in the OED, but here are some notes about the prefix hyper- from the OED:

'repr. Gr. - ( prep. and adv., ‘over, beyond, over much, above measure’); in Gr. combined adverbially with verbs, in the local sense ‘over, above, beyond’ [...]

'Comparatively few of these have come down or been adopted in English, hyperbole, hyperborean, with their derivatives, being the chief; but from the 17th century hyper- has been extensively used, more or less on Greek analogies, in the formation of new compounds, and has even become a kind of living element, freely prefixed to adjectives and substantives, as in groups 1 and 4 below.

'I [...] 1. General formations: a. adjectives, as hyper-angelical, -archæological, -archiepiscopal, -barbarous, -constitutional, -creaturely, -diabolical, -equatorial, -magical, -magnetic, -miraculous, -pathetic, -prophetical, -stoic, see also hyperethical, hyperrational, etc., below. b. Rarely in substantives (except abstracts from the adjs.), and verbs; e.g. hyper-analysis, hypergoddess, hyperdeify: see below. [...]

'II [...] 4. General formations, comprising adjectives (with their adverbs), substantives, and (a few) verbs; often corresponding to one another in meaning. a. adjectives (with corresponding adverbs): as hyperaccurate, -acid, -active, -acute, -archaic, -brutal, -carnal, -civilized, -classical, -colloquial, -composite, -confident, -conscientious, -educated, -elegant, -excitable, -excursive, -fastidious, -grammatical, -hilarious, -idealistic, -latinistic, -logical, -lustrous, -metaphorical, -metaphysical, -modest, -moral, -mystical, -neurotic, -obtrusive, -orthodox, -pure, -ridiculous, -saintly, -sceptical, -sentimental, -speculative, -superlative, -torrid, -tragical, -transcendent, -tropical, -wrought, etc. b. substantives, as hyperacidity, -activity, -acuteness, -archaism, -characterization, -civilization, -climax, -conformist, -conscientiousness, -conservatism, -determination, -dialecticism, -dialectism, -division, -exaltation, -excitability, -federalist, -hypocrisy, -orthodoxy, -panegyric, -paroxysm, -pietist, -plagiarism, -ritualism, -scrupulosity, -sensibility, -subtlety, -vitalization, etc. c. verbs, as hypercharacterize, -emphasize, -realize, -vitalize. [...]

'1867 ANSTIE in Bienn. Retrosp. New Syd. Soc. 89 The..*hyperactive condition of the brain in acute mania. [...]

'IV. The more important words belonging to all these groups appear in their alphabetical order as main words; others of less importance or less frequent use, and mostly of recent introduction, follow here. (For many of these no statement of derivation is needed, as they are simply formed by prefixing hyper- to another word, the etymology of which will be found in its place: e.g. hyperacuity, f. hyper- + ACUITY, q.v. In the following words e often replaces æ, , esp. in U.S. usage; the alternative spelling is not given for each word individually.) [...]'

and from 'focus':

'b. fig. 1807 Uti Possidetis xxx, All the Talent of the Nation Focuss'd in Cab'net concentration. 1862 W. M. ROSSETTI in Fraser's Mag. Aug. 195 Focussing our observation to a single point. 1863 J. BROWN Horæ Subs. (ed. 3) 80 Inferior to my father..in power ofso to speakfocussing himself. 1888 BURGON Lives 12 Gd. Men I. iii. 331 He could..instantly focus his thoughts.'

oneismany 13:55, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

A quick search on Google of "hyperfocus adhd" yielded a few immediate results of examples of it being used as a common term to describe the action of this. A few interesting bits of information that I came across on the top ten of that search are as follows and the term hyperfocus is used:

• Both research and clinical experience tells us that ADHD Children can exhibit a type of "hyperfocus" - intense concentration and single-minded focus when the activity is very interesting. This situation is most often found when ADHD Children play computer games. ADHD Children may have an amazing ability to hyperfocus on a computer game, one of the few things that moves fast enough to maintain their attention, unlike homework or routine chores. [1] Under the heading, "Hyperfocus and Outbursts". Seems an interesting read.
• While this state of rapt attention may be the sign of a creative mind, it may also be "hyperfocus," which is a similar condition that individuals with ADHD frequently experience. You can't tell children with and without ADHD from how they engage in high-interest activities -- such as videos, computer games, or reading for pleasure. The key is effort. How your child performs during projects that require effort -- but aren't necessarily high-interest -- can mark the difference.[2] mid-way down the page.
• 1. Selective attention. This means a child goes from one extreme to another, showing the ability to intensely concentrate, or "hyperfocus," on something he enjoys doing, something he is good at or feels is relevant or interesting, yet becomes inattentive and tunes out things he finds routine or boring. [3]
• Remember that ADHD usually includes a tendency to overfocus or hyperfocus at times. This hyperfocusing can be used constructively or destructively. Be aware of its destructive use: a tendency to obsess or ruminate over some imagined problem without being able to let it go. [4] #43

Although this does not show the origin of the term. Yet a yield on one page, cited a particular book, "Answers To Distraction by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. and John J. Ratey, M.D. ISBN 0-553-37821-X", when it used a quote and the term hyperfocus.[5]

Sir Milas Boozefox The Third 19:22, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV

I started this article, and would like to commment that recent changes have made it much better. IMHO, I feel it currently presents, on balance, a good NPOV about a mysterious subject. Vaoverland 09:40, 21 November 2005 (UTC)

Great, I'm glad you approve. I think this is just a start though. There must be more literature that can be brought to bear on the topic, and further important details that can be included. Also, "Psychiatric Views" could use a small cleanup (the prose leaves something to be desired in places); and the topic is open to similar "X Views." I would like to add that this is an approach I would like to see for other characteristics or abilities that are identified as 'symptoms' of ADHD. oneismany 11:20, 21 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Relevant to include?

(Interpretation as part of attention problems)

Hey, I am very, very new at this and I'm scared to edit the actual entry because I think I'll do something wrong, but I think it could be valuable to add another common way of looking at hyperfocus to the article: some resources on ADHD consider hyperfocus a natural expression of the ADHD brain's difficulty in *regulating* attention. In other words, the ADHD brain may not turn the attention on to the teacher, which is well documented and the basic inspiration for the ADD name, but the same regulatory problems could lead to difficulty turning attention *off* of something. I'm not saying it's scientific, but it is repeated in the literature and, well, makes some sense as another way to look at the (apparent) phenomenon of hyperfocus: as part of a suite of attention-regulation difficulties (paying attention, switching attention, not switching attention, etc.)

I'd like to provide the books where this kind of explanation is provided, but I don't have any of them with me at school--I think it can be found in "You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?" but I'm not sure. I don't know if this will be any help at all, but hopefully someone will see it and can advise me as to whether it would be appropriate to add this content.

Also, I seem to have accidentally created a new page (User talk: Hyperfocus?) by clicking the "to leave a comment click here" link. This is because I suck, but while I've blanked out the content, I'm not sure how to make it go away. Again, I'm sorry for my incompetence and will be attempting to familiarize myself better with procedures so as to avoid this sort of thing, but in the meantime if someone sees this and can help me fix it, I'd appreciate it. Siwangmu 02:53, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

Hmmm ... "some psychiatric resources regard hyperfocus as attention-regulatory disorder"? oneismany 12:00, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

I am a WP administrator will take care of deleting the accidental page User talk: Hyperfocus?. We want to encourage contributions, so take a shot at editing the article and communicating here are you are comfortable. If you goof something up, you can be assured that someone will be watching changes, and will "fix" it. When we get into a battle over opinions or presentation of facts, there are occasionally "edit wars" on WP; it is better to discuss such matters on this page and reach for agreement amongst us. Out of curiosity, it sounds like you are away at school (prep or college?). Does hyperfocus as you experience it work as a help or hindrance for you? Can you manage it to end up with a net benefit? Mark in Historic Triangle of Virginia Vaoverland 23:41, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

I'll answering this for myself, if it's not too presumptuous (I am at college, Colorado School of Mines, and have ADHD as well). It definitely helps when I hyperfocus on the homework, etc. The problem is that I easily hyperfocus on whatever I happen to be doing, especially if it's very interesting, but it might not be productive or entertaining to others. It makes my life somewhat more unpredictable than it should be, and makes me kind of irritating to be around if I don't try to restrain my enthusiasm for what I rationally know is quite mundane. Also, losing track of time would be awful if I hadn't gotten into the habit of trying to check the time constantly (when without a watch, I still find myself unaware of what time it is, even to within a few hours). The other thing I can say is that I develop an emotional attachment to what I'm focusing on, so I get kind of moody when some project ends.

I removed the reference to Osho's take on meditation because his views are one of many many views on meditation (some reference to "meditation is not concentration"). Some types of meditation are specifically intended to develop concentration. In any event, Osho's opinions are not particularly relevant to the over all subject of the article. lateshuvit Feb. 19, 2007.

[edit] Specify

Is this article asserting that hyperfocus occurs in all people who have ADD/ADHD, or are you simply stating that all people with hyperfocus have the disorder, but not necessarily the reverse?

Hyperfocus is a state of mind, or mental activity that might be considered an ability or a symptom of a disorder, depending on your point of view. oneismany 19:35, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

I started this article, and intended neither of the above statements. I think that some people who seem to meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD have mental experiences which they find is well-defined by the label hyperfocus. I believe that whether manifestations are good or bad is a matter of circumstance and perspective, which is I guess what oneismany has said. Vaoverland 23:33, 13 March 2006 (UTC)