#HYPERFOCUS BOOK SUMMARY MOVIE#

вЂњIt can also help to make an agreement with your child ahead of time about when the activity can be done, and when it canвЂ™t.вЂќ

вЂњIf you have a child who hyperfocuses on a favorite activity, youвЂ™ll need to counter this tendency by being extra-vigilant about limiting the time spent on the activity and about being careful to stick to his schedule,вЂќ says Carol Brady, Ph.D., a Houston psychologist. вЂњSo the child should be allowed to play it only in dosesВ - not at the expense of an entire day.вЂќ вЂњEven if a child is on ADHD medication, playing Nintendo will always be more attractive than studying for a math test,вЂќ says Biederman. If a child with ADHD tends to get lost in a favorite activity, parents or teachers should first take steps to limit the amount of time the child is allowed to spend on the activity. Hyperfocus In Children: Can It Be Trained? вЂњIt was only when firemen came through the house, searching for anyone left inside, that she looked up and realized what was going on,вЂќ says Nadeau. In one extraordinary case history, cited by Nadeau, a woman with ADHD was so focused on a project that she failed to notice that her house had caught fire. вЂњCombine this with poor time management and problems socializing, both of which are typical of kids with ADHD, and the child can end up playing Nintendo alone all weekend long.вЂќДЄdults with ADHD tell stories of missing meetings or deadlines because they got so absorbed in something that they lost track of time. вЂњ Children with ADHD often gravitate to whatвЂ™s entertaining and exciting, and are averse to doing things they donвЂ™t want to do,вЂќ says Joseph Biederman, M.D., head of the Pediatric Psychopharmacology program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Left unchecked, it can lead to failure in school, lost productivity on the job, and strained relationships with friends and at home. вЂњMany scientists, writers, and artists with ADHD have had very successful careers, in large part because of their ability to focus on what theyвЂ™re doing for hours on end,вЂќ says Nadeau.Д«ut unrestrained intense focus is most often a liability. Others allow themselves to hyperfocus on something as a reward for completing a dull but important task. Some people with ADD or ADHD, for example, are able to channel their focus on something productive, such as a school- or work-related activity. ThereвЂ™s nothing inherently harmful about hyperfocus. Often they arenвЂ™t even aware that theyвЂ™re focusing so intensely.вЂќ Is ADHD Hyperfocus Bad?

#HYPERFOCUS BOOK SUMMARY MOVIE#

Younger kids do the same thing unconsciously when theyвЂ™re doing something pleasurable, like watching a movie or playing a computer game. вЂњCollege kids with ADHD tell me they intentionally go into a state of intense focus to get work done. вЂњItвЂ™s a way of dealing with distraction,вЂќ Silver says. In the view of Larry Silver, M.D., a psychiatrist at Georgetown University Medical School in Washington D.C., such intense concentration is actually a coping mechanism. The brains of people with ADHD are drawn to activities that give instant feedback.вЂќ вЂњIf theyвЂ™re doing something they enjoy or find psychologically rewarding, theyвЂ™ll tend to persist in this behavior after others would normally move on to other things. вЂњChildren and adults with ADHD have difficulty shifting attention from one thing to another,вЂќ says ADHD expertВ Russell Barkley, Ph.D. This dopamine deficiency makes it hard to вЂњshift gearsвЂќ to take up boring-but-necessary tasks. Like distractibility, hyperfocus is thought to result from abnormally low levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is particularly active in the brainвЂ™s frontal lobes. вЂњA better way to look at it is that people with ADHD have a disregulated attention system.вЂќ What Causes the ADHD Brain to Hyperfocus? вЂњPeople who think ADHD means having a short attention span misunderstand what ADHD is,вЂќ says Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D., a psychologist in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the author of ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life (#CommissionsEarned). But whatever holds the attention, the result is the same: Unless something or someone interrupts, hours drift by as important tasks and relationships fall by the wayside. Adults might hyperfocus on social media or shopping. Hyperfocus: How Does It Affect Children and Adults with ADHD?ДЇor children, the object of hyperfocusВ might be playing a video game or watching TV. Children and adults with ADHD often exhibit hyperfocus when working intently on things that interest them. People who experience hyperfocus often become so engrossed they block out the world around them. Hyperfocus refers to an intense fixation on an interest or activity for an extended period of time.

Hyperfocus book summary