![]() ![]() Like a lot of people with ADD, I really, really struggle with working memory and multitasking – I find it incredibly difficult to keep multiple things in my brain at one time. Sometimes I used it to escape sensory overload as a highly sensitive person, but mostly I use it when things are getting to be “too much” for me as someone with ADD. Thinking about my own experience with hyperfocus, I realized I, too, often used it as an escape, although I wasn’t always aware of it at the time. Hyperfocus as an escape really resonated with me. ![]() Hyperfocus is almost like an escape when I’m experiencing sensory overload or just getting really overwhelmed.” “I think it’s kind of a coping mechanism for me as a highly sensitive person. “I know I hyperfocus because I have ADHD, but I also have OCD, so I sometimes feel like I just can’t leave something undone or unfinished, and usually that’s when I hyperfocus.” “I have ADD and bipolar disorder, and I experience most of my hyperfocus when I’m depersonalizing or while manic.” I asked my friends why they thought they experienced hyperfocus, and if they could think of anything specific that caused it. I’ve struggled to shift my focus to other things. I’ve experienced hyperfocus at work that made me extremely productive, as well as hyperfocus that’s caused me to spend an entire afternoon on Wikipedia. I’ve found myself engrossed in counting, listing, and other repetitive behaviors and feeling the need to see them through to completion. Yet when they described their experiences with hyperfocus, I just thought, oh, yeah, I’ve been there before. I’ve been so focused on something that it almost felt like a high. My friends were all different – not just from each other, but from me: different ages, different backgrounds, different mental health struggles. What stuck out to me most was the fact that even though all of my friends had very different descriptions of their own experiences with hyperfocus, I could relate completely to all of them. ![]() “When I’m hyperfocused on something, pulling myself away to pay attention to something else makes me feel just like agitated and empty, and I just want to go back to what I was focusing on before.” Sometimes it happens in ways that help me, like when I’m really focused on writing a paper, but most of the time it happens in ways that really don’t help me, and I just end up wasting lots of time.” “I can’t really control it it just sort of happens. “ I was mid-manic episode when I was 15 and I counted all of the pine needles on a pine tree.” You’re not even aware of the mental energy you’re using to focus, so when your hyperfocus ends, you feel kind of exhausted and groggy and like you need a nap, but you don’t really know why.” Usually, focusing is really hard and just gets harder the longer you have to do it, but when you hyperfocus, it’s like you get into this head space where all of the distractions just go away and you just want to focus more and more because it feels good. ![]() “I’m a distance runner, and I have ADHD, and the best analogy I can think of to describe it is that it’s like a runner’s high. My friends had a lot to say on the subject. I decided to open up the conversation by asking people about their experiences with hyperfocus and what it felt like to them. I’m lucky enough to have several friends who understand the importance of mental health and actively work to end stigmas and normalize talking about mental illness, and my friends and I have openly discussed a wide variety of mental health topics, but for some reason, hyperfocus has never really been one of them. I wondered: If hyperfocus is so common, why is this the first time my friend and I are talking about our experiences with it? We aren’t exactly shy when it comes to talking about mental illness – my friend is even a graduate student in psychology. ![]()
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