Yo-
I'm trying a new vibe today. Is it working?
This is "What in the ADHD?"
My name is Sydni. Hopefully you knew that by now.
And today's video is going to be about hyperfocus.
Before I launch into that, don't forget to hit the "subscribe" button.
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I would really appreciate a like... because likes and subscriptions are going to be the only thing that keeps the channel going.
If anything, do it for Nigel. He doesn't know you, but I promise he loves you.
So, like I said. Today's topic is hyperfocus.
I'm going to go over: what it is,
what causes it, different things that people with ADHD typically hyperfocus on,
my personal hyperfocuses, I'll talk about whether hyperfocus is good or bad,
and lastly, how we can channel or fix our hyperfocus.
But before we talk about any of that, I wanted to address the elephant in the room.
A very common misconception about ADHD is
that we LACK attention. Afterall, it's called "Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder".
"Deficit" means that we don't have it or that we lack enough of it.
That is NOT the case.
People with ADHD have plenty of attention,
we just have problems regulating where it should go.
I've been saying for a while now that ADHD needs to be renamed from "Attention-deficit" to
"attention-dysregulation". That describes it better.
Neurotypicals will often say:
"Hyperfocus is not real for people with ADHD because they don't have attention.
That's not true. We HAVE an attention span, Betsy. You're just not interesting enough for it.
But - because we're not able to regulate attention,
that means that we're unable to prioritize the things that NEED our attention...
as opposed to the things that we WANT to pay attention to because we find them more interesting.
It's been shown in multiple studies that people with ADHD are only able to really focus on things that
they find fun or interesting.
That's why you doze off in chemistry lecture.
So, instead of prioritizing the things that NEED our attention,
we are going to focus all of our attention on things that give us a better hit of dopamine.
So, for those of you that don't know, people with ADHD have lower levels of dopamine.
It's a neurotransmitter in your brain that's responsible for all kinds of stuff:
Motivation, time management, organization, planning, emotional regulation... lots of stuff.
So, that's the common misconception is that we don't have attention.
We do. We just need it to be interesting.
Moving on. Hyperfocus: what is it?
So, it's defined as "intense concentration on something for an extended period of time
to the point of time blindness and losing touch with reality or the outside world."
Time blindness is when you're working on something for so long that you're not even aware of the hours passing by.
And then the other one: losing touch with reality and the outside world.
You're gonna get to the point where you're only focused on that thing.
And you're ignoring texts and calls from your friends and family
because you're so focused that you're not even worried about who might be trying to contact you.
Or you aren't completing tasks that NEED to be completed, like
you have a jury form questionnaire due today that you've been neglecting for 2 weeks,
and have put it off until the very last possible minute.
Not that that happened yesterday, or anything.
And then you're also getting to the point that you're neglecting your basic needs:
showering, eating meals, drinking water,
Hold on. That reminds me.
Okay, moving on.
Going to the bathroom, sleeping is a really big one.
Not for me, personally, because I love sleep too much.
I know of a lot of people that'll hyperfocus on a video game or
a project that they procrastinated on, or studying for an exam,
and they'll stay up all night. All night.
I would never.
And then they don't sleep. And while they're not sleeping, they're probably not doing those other things, too.
They're neglecting all of their basic needs because they're hyperfocusing.
Neurotypicals are better at recognizing
"Oh, I'm hungry. I need to step away for a minute and eat."
People that don't have ADHD are better at prioritizing those things and being like,
"Well, let me do this thing really quick and I can come back and play Zelda."
People with ADHD are like, "oh my GOD that sounds like a whole thing." And then we put it off for 2 weeks.
So, dopamine is obviously the key player, here.
We don't have enough of it, so we don't wanna do those boring things that we need to do,
so instead we're doing things that give us more of a dopamine hit
because it is the pleasure and reward center. And our brain loves that shit.
So, you could probably answer this question because I've already touched on it a few times:
What causes hyperfocus?
If you said "dopamine", you are correct.
Or, LACK of dopamine.
So, we're gonna make a little dish called "Hyperfocus".
I am not great at cooking; that's my husband's thing... but I AM great at hyperfocusing.
So we have a little bowl here. And in this bowl,
we are going to mix some ingredients together,
and make some tasty hyperfocus.
We need: lack of dopamine,
poor time management,
Our lack of dopamine fell out. Let's... put that back in there.
And lastly, my favorite ingredient that goes well with so many things:
social awkwardness and social avoidance.
And now we're going to mix all of those things together.
Put it in the over for like, an hour? I don't know. I don't know how long things go in the oven.
Or maybe just like the freezer? Maybe it's something you don't actually have to cook and it just sets in the freezer?
Once it's done cooking or freezing or whatever,
you have a bowl of yummy, delicious hyperfocus.
Mixing all of those things together: low dopamine, poor time management,
the fact that you don't really wanna be around people because they make you nervous,
All those things are a great recipe for hyperfocus.
And that is why people with ADHD are a very specific group of people that are able to hyperfocus.
Because we have all of those things in our little kitchen of ingredients and we never run out of it.
Yay us.
So, now we know what hyperfocus is and what causes it.
Now I'm going to give some examples of what people with ADHD typically hyperfocus on.