While perseveration was well defined by the "upstairs" author. ![]() ![]() For instance, the child with autism might focus on the car wheel, while not attending to the car itself. While this hyperfocus, lacks the big picture perception. He referred to people with autism spectrum disorder as hyperfocus because they focused immensely on fine details of their sensations and their environments. Thus it is both a concentration deficit and over-concentration, or generically: "hyperfocus.Īctually,if you saw a few of Dr. It is typical for individuals with ADHD to say they 1), can not focus on boring things and 2), can only focus on stimulating things, and that focus is often extreme. In these cases it is more commonly and accurately referred to as perseveration (or perseverance) - the inability to, or impairment in, switching tasks or activities ("set shifting"), or desisting from mental or physical response repetition (gestures, words, thoughts) despite absence or cessation of a stimulus, and which is not excessive in terms of quantity but are apparently both functionless and involve a narrow range of behaviours, and are not better described as stereotypy (a highly repetitive idiosyncratic behaviour). Hyperfocus may in some cases also be symptomatic of a psychiatric condition. The wikipedia page for hyperfocus has an entire section dedicated to the confusion between hyperfocus and perseveration, particularly as it pertains to ADHD. However, while 'hyperfocus' can be a psychiatric or non-psychiatric condition, perseveration is typically considered a psychiatric condition in all instances. It seems to me that we become passionate about what we perseverate on while others just focus on things to get them done so they can move on.I myself have never found evidence to suggest a difference between perseveration and hyperfocus when referring to ADHD. Because they don’t care about it and understating comes so easy to them, they just study a subject without any emotional attachment and they just learn the basics and never delve into the finer more nuanced aspects of that subject. I know really smart people that can really focus on things and are not neurodivergent, but they don’t care about what they are focusing on. Well I believe it’s because I care about it and that’s what makes me focus. I learn so much about a subject that I focus on, that others not like me, and often quite intelligent, wonder how I know so much about it. Although, I don’t exactly agree with the idea that those of us with ADD or ADHD are probably just focusing like people who are not neurodivergent when we perseverate. ![]() In the video, I talk about the definition of perseveration and some of its symptoms (such as repeating the same gesture, behavior, phrase, or word).ĭr. Discussing Perseveration and ADHDīarkley's comment got me thinking about what perseveration actually is and how it applies to those with and without ADHD. However, it is true that hyperfocusing can create burnout and make people less productive than if they were able to approach tasks in a more balanced manner. I do not necessarily agree with him because people with ADHD can create, accomplish, and discover great things due to their obsessions. Many ADHDers describe their ability to hyperfocus as a superpower, but Barkley states that perseveration in ADHD is never an asset. ![]() He defines perseveration as the inability to stop doing an activity at an appropriate time. Barkley suggests that ADHDers do not hyperfocus, as people with autism do, but perseverate. In fact, they can focus too much, obsessing over one thing and ignoring other subjects and tasks. 1 People with ADHD struggle with boredom, but they can often focus on things they enjoy. I first heard the term "perseveration" in a lecture by psychologist Russell Barkley about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and hyperfocus.
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