Is hyperfocus NOT a regularly used term? I’m annoyed I had to add it my dictionary on here.
Now I’m wondering how many neurotypical people I’ve used that terms with who where confused but didn’t say anything. Eugh.
ADHD is not a deficit of attention. It’s a problem with regulation…
What is hyperfocus?
Hyperfocus is an intense fixation on an activity or interest for an extended period of time. We can get so engrossed in that topic that we lose track of time, even forgetting to to eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom. We might fail to notice what happening around us (“Oh sorry, I didn’t hear you come in” or “Oh sorry, I didn’t hear my phone ring”).
It generally happens when we’re interested in the topic.
Note: People with ADHD, Autism — and those without — can hyperfocus.
Why does hyperfocus happen?
Because the frontal lobe (the very smartest part of your brain) has low levels of, or poorly utilized, Dopamine, it’s hard to shift gears.
Hyperfocus isn’t necessarily a negative phenomenon all of the time. Sometimes you can be rewarded for hyperfocus — when it leads to a better product. On the flip side, people can go down a rabbit hole when they should be doing something else. Basically, the brain takes a path of least resistance. If you’re naturally engaged in something, your brain is moving a thousand miles per hour, then it’s easy to slip down the path of losing time. You get totally engrossed in the activity.
When people give the advice, “Just harness your hyperfocus – you can use it as a superpower,” it’s misleading and harmful. Hyperfocus is not a volitional thing. You can learn to manage hyperfocus better. You can start recognizing cues when you’re slipping into hyperfocus. You can set alarms to make sure you’re setting time periods, so you don’t lose track of time. You can employ the help of somebody else. You can tell them how much time you’ve set for yourself and ask them to pull you out after that time has passed.
When kids are in hyperfocus, it’s important to give them enough time to switch gears. You can’t expect them to immediately be “done” when you’re ready for them to be done with their activity. Our brains don’t really comprehend that kind of abrupt switch.
Learn how you learn. For ADHD brains, we learn better if we actively engaged and interested in the topic. Try to make learning things more interesting – make it a game, color code, whatever works well for you.
Upsides of Hyperfocus:
- When aimed at something productive, it can be pretty powerful
Downsides of Hyperfocus:
- Putting off eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom
- Intensely fixating on something, even though it feels good to be the flow state, for a long period of time can leave us feeling chronically exhausted (which could eventually lead to extreme burnout)
- Getting interrupted can trigger some ADHD rage at the impossibility of returning to that same level of delightful flow state of hyperfocus
- Hyperfocus is particularly difficult to manage in a workplace where colleagues and manager interrupt non-stop and expect we can return easily to our original task
- Not moving (unless the hyperfocus requires movement, then the downsides is moving way more than is physically ok
Hyperfocus vs. Hypervigilance
Where hyperfocus is an intense focus on a singular activity, hypervigilance seems to be on the other side of the coin — with a constant scanning of the environment for real or perceived threats. For many of the people with ADHD that I’ve met, the hypervigilance appears to be a response to some level of trauma. We’ve spent our whole life being told we’re weird and we make people uncomfortable, so then we start monitoring everyone around us to make sure we’re not being weird or making people uncomfortable.
If you’re someone who experiences a lot of hypervigilance, hyperfocus might be a way to take that energy and focus it on something else. Instead of focusing the intense energy on the minute body language, facial expressions, and nonverbal communication, you can spend that energy on something you find interesting — a new hobby, art, craft, research, building, reading, writing, etc.
On the flip side, it is possible to actually hyperfocus on hypervigilance — especially if you’re already in a dysregulated state. If you go to a new environment, or a big loud party, a job interview — you might start hyperfocusing on being hypervigilant. You could find yourself constantly making sure that the people around you are okay.
What’s frustrating about hypervigilance is that to a certain extent, it works. It can keep you safe. If you grew up in a household where hypervigilance was the thing that protected you, you probably got really good at reading those small body language cues. The reality, though, is that we cannot know how each and every individual human being on this planet will react. Sometimes, we can spend a lot of time and energy being hypervigilant to make sure the one guy that looks a little grumpy is ok, but then it can turn out that Bill’s face just looks a little grumpy.
Hypervigilance can really disrupt your life. It can take a really long time to unpack the fact that you’re even doing it at all.
It’s not your job to make sure that everyone around you is 100% okay at all times. It’s just NOT. You have to learn to work on that part. You have to learn to break away from that. Yes, you should be kind to people. Yes, you should be polite. To the best of your ability, you should treat people in a way that is compassionate. But whether or not those people are okay or are having fun at the party, that’s on them. If they’re not having a good time, they can leave. If they decide to get made at you for not having a good time at the party, or whatever, that’s still on them. That’s not your fault. We learn hypervigilance from being mistreated. We learn hypervigilance from feeling like the only way to be safe, and to be taken care of, is to be on call at all times for the good and edification of others. That’s not fair to you.
Go hyperfocus on something – like crochet or sword fighting or whatever you want it to be — just let go of the hypervigilance.
Sources:
Sasha Hamdani, M.D. [@thepsychdoctormd] (n.d.) TikTok. Retrieved March 2, 2025, from https://TikTok.com/@thepsychdoctormd
Cate Osborn. [@catieosaurus] (n.d.) TikTok. Retrieved March 2, 2025, from https://TikTok.com/@catieosaurus