Hyperfocus: The left out symptom of ADHD

Ryan is able to spend hours working on a Legos project. Ryan is able to spend hours playing video games. Ryan is able to spend hours “studying” books on Star Wars, Oh, those hours spent on those huge Star Wars books! Ryan is able to spend hours on Pokemon. How is this possible with ADHD?

According to Additude magazine, “ Hyperfocus, a common — but confusing — symptom of ADHD, is the ability to zero in intensely on an interesting project or activity for hours at a time. It is the opposite of distractibility, and it is common among both children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.”

Ugh, why can’t the hyperfocus be on something like, say, schoolwork, or cleaning up a room or something else of import? Well, simply put, it’s just not interesting enough for the ADHD brain. It’s not only frustrating for us parents who happen to be blessed with the neurodiverse child, but also for us adults who are like this or are married to someone like this. And to make it worse, sometimes the hyperfocus is on something like a new hobby. Where the ADHD person throws themselves completely into the hobby, buys everything associated with it and does nothing but that hobby for awhile – and then………the interest is lost, and they (me, we) move on to something else.

This hyperfocus can take over a life. Let’s say – the ADHDer plays a game and then forgets to do an assignment, or misses class, or forgets to take care of other important matters in their life like doing laundry, or making the bed, or making dinner. This can cause all kinds of upheaval. Relationships can easily become strained, whether it’s a partner, spouse or child. And it’s not only difficult for those who live with a person who has hyperfocus. Imagine what it might be like for the person who actually has it? Guilt, embarrassment and justification for their actions or lack thereof. Imagine the hours lost for this person, when all of a sudden they realize that an entire day has gone by with nothing really to show for it.

In this digital age, many of us find ourselves wasting time playing games, or binge watching shows, especially during the pandemic. Hyperfocus though is a bit different. Pulling an ADHDer away from their hyperfocus activity is difficult. Their brain is locked in, and attempting to remove them from the activity is very difficult. For Ryan, if we tried to get him to stop an activity without warning, he could have a meltdown. We learned that being proactive in setting up time limits would help. So, for instance, if he was going to start on a Legos project, we would discuss with him before he started how much time he was going to have to spend on it. We would set a timer, and give him time warnings. As he got older, he would set the timer himself. Or, if it was on a weekend, we would write down his schedule in the morning, so that he could see when and how long he could play his video games or work on Legos. We tried to leave interruptions to a minimum.

It’s easier to manage this for a young person with ADHD when they have adults around them to help with time management. Imagine being an adult with ADHD and having hyperfocus and the rabbit hole that one can go down. Being aware of the hyperfocus and being proactive about your hyperfocus is key. Figuring out what can work for you in managing yourself is important. As I write this, I’m preaching to myself. I myself have this hyperfocus problem. There are some days I ask myself what I did all day, and I find that I’ve spent hours on a project of little or no value other than it’s just fun. And then I look at the mess of my bedroom, and it’s a mess and I’ve not cleaned it up, or I am late making dinner. Goodness, I’m sixty and I’m still trying to work on these things!