“People who think ADHD means having a short attention span misunderstand what ADHD is,” 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?įor children, the object of hyperfocus 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. Ratey titled “ The Flip Side of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria: How to Tap into ADHD Energy and Motivation ,” which is available for free replay here.Hyperfocus refers to an intense fixation on an interest or activity for an extended period of time. This content came from the ADDitude webinar by Dr. Remember, key traits of VAST are resilience and an amazing ability to never give up. Just as a little negativity can tumble into anxiety and panic, a drop of praise can build into a tsunami of hope and motivation. These choices, sometimes paired with medication, create recognition responsive euphoria and lead people with VAST to success and happiness. Individuals with VAST thrive when surrounded by positive people and when they can step away from projects and people that are a chronic disappointment. Do not wait to praise perfection because perfection may never happen without praise along the way. Those with VAST are often embarrassed to ask for encouragement, so supporters have to remember to offer accolades for goals met, effort expended, and movement in the right direction. This positivity and encouragement super-charges the VAST brain with the same intensity with which negative feedback defeats it. However, the Default Mode Network can have the opposite effect when positive recognition is perceived by someone with VAST. Real or imagined criticism gets caught in the Default Mode Network - one of the primary networks in the brain that is active when a person is not focused - and creates the negative feelings that spiral into rejection sensitive dysphoria. Individuals with VAST are accustomed to receiving negative feedback in their personal, academic, and professional lives. The Flip Side of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria So if individuals with VAST tend to succumb to perceived rejection, they can just as easily thrive with perceived recognition, an experience we call “recognition responsive euphoria.” You are distractible, but you’re also curious. William Dodson, refers to the extreme emotional sensitivity and feelings of guilt, shame, and rejection often experienced by those living with VAST.īut with VAST there are always pairs you can hyperfocus and then you can’t focus. Rejection sensitive dysphoria, a phrase coined by Dr. VAST symptoms can, of course, negatively impact a person’s life, work, and relationships. Therefore, we argue that a more accurate descriptive term is “variable attention stimulus trait” (VAST), a name that allows us to “de-medicalize” ADHD and focus instead on the huge benefits of having an ADHD brain. Individuals with ADHD do not have a disease, nor do they have a deficit of attention in fact, what they have is an abundance of attention. The term “deficit disorder” places ADHD in the realm of pathology, or disease. ADHD is an inaccurate - and potentially corrosive - name.
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