Crap. I only just saw that Jessamyn called you out over this, and I didn't intend this post to actually be a callout.

That said, is what Jessamyn links to -- the "hyperfocusing" business -- an accurate description of ADHD?

I read it as this: OmieWise was being somewhat sarcastic, basically trying to point up the ignorance behind a slapdash lay diagnosis on the internet. Then, Jessamyn took him to be serious and tried to present evidence that concentration can exist within diagnosed ADHD. Which is true. But OmieWise already knew that.

And then the thread became a train wreck.

Ok, so these ADHDers can concentrate?

Can we leave the grey in the grey? Please? That thread is open and there's no reason not to comment there instead.

No, seriously, I just wanted to figure out if ADHDers concentrate on video games or not, and I didn't figure it would be amenable to a goggle search. I'm not actually calling out anyone, grouse.

Oh right.

Ortho: Then I'd say a simple yes (sorry I was derailing above). Not only video games, but whatever it is that you strongly desire to do.

I hate to go too far down this road, though. I've been diagnosed ADHD in my time, but I don't really accept it as a pathology, except in some very extreme cases. But anyway; in my career as an educator, I have witnessed this uncountable times - highly distractable children able to muster extreme focus when both their minds and emotions are engaged in something of their own choosing.

The thing is, there's not a whole lot of point in linking to Ask/MeFi/Ta threads if the interest has to do with how emotionally charged, bizarre, abusive, out-there, or whatever they are, because they're apt to get deleted. Whenever I see a thread like this I wonder if it's even worth looking at given the probability that following the link under discussion is likely to lead to some missing comment and resultant baffling nonsequiturs.

That is, the comments are apt to get deleted. MeTa threads tend to stay put, though AskMe and MeFi threads are for the chop often enough. Though the difference between MeFi and AskMe "deletion" is another issue. One's just removed from the front page while the other gets whacked entire.

My son has ADHD, although after much deliberation and consideration I chose not to medicate him for it - I (hopefully) gave him the tools to learn to deal with it on his own, and he's doing an OK job. But we need to help him deal with it sometimes.

He's the epitome of a hyperfocuser. He totally obsesses about one thing to the point of exasperation and intervention. For the past month it's been Halo Online. He would wolf down dinner to get back to it, was neglecting his homework, would put off things like going to get new jeans, getting a haircut...things like that. He was passing up going to see friends, and was cutting people short when they would cal him on the phone. The instant he woke up he was talking to me about Halo, he would call me at work to talk about Halo, he'd talk about it at the dinner table. This is typical behavior for him. He gets completely absorbed into one thing to the exclusion of everything else. So yesterday my husband and I sat him down and told him that we had to intervene since he wasn't capable of self-policing his time spent playing Halo. We decided not to take it away from him, just limit him to an hour a day playing it. He started to cry, but not from frustration. From relief. Because he could stop obsessing and hyperfocusing on it. He was happy. I saw a complete difference in him today when he played for his hour - he was relaxed and enjoying it much more, and he kept looking at the clock.

The downside, of course, is that means he needed to immediately find something else to focus on. He picked street hockey, and so far today has lined up 3 games with friends, has replaced the wheels on his blades, has shopped online for swiss bearings, and asked me to drive him to the sporting good store for hockey balls.

So to answer your question, yes, hyperfocusing is real. And it drives me nuts, and makes me sad for my son. I printed out the site that Jessamyn linked to last night and he's reading it right now, and can totally see himself in the description.

s/Halo Online/MetaFilter/g

FWIW, my 37 year old ADHD brother *also* hyperfocuses on particular types of videogames, namely the Myst series of games. He can solve those games easily (one particularly twisted puzzle in Riven had me scrambling for a cheat guide, to him it was obvious). He also can play Tetris like nobody's business; when he rearranges furniture or packs boxes/suitcases, he uses Tetris strategies to make things fit.

hyperfocusing is real. And it drives me nuts, and makes me sad for my son


Don't be too sad, iconomy. Here's another perspective. I consider it a real gift sometimes to be able to shut out muddying influences and fully absorb a new topic, spending most of my surplus energy on gathering skill, terminology, and perspective on whatever the current fascination is. In some careers (like mine, fortunately!), it's a highly adaptive ability. And it's fun. Most people close to me say that one of the things they most enjoy is that I'm always full of enthusiasm for something new, and that I end up introducing them to ideas and things they wouldn't otherwise discover. Really, it's not a terrible way to be; you just have to learn to work with it.

As you say, it can be hard to learn to manage the obsessive side of the trait, but it absolutely can be done. I learned about this the hard way growing up; by experiencing some of the negative consequences of indulging my interests to the exlusion of the important, healthy, nuts-and-bolts activities of daily life. But by creating a structure for your son that lets him devote appropriate attention to the various areas of your life, you are probably demonstrating to him a useful approach to the problem that he can use throughout life.

IN response to wolfdaddy:

Video games come up a lot (and I saw this when I was teaching) as an obsession, becuase of the very short, tight feedback loop. That can become addictive to people who take in many streams of information quickly (as ADD people do); the instant feedback and fast pace feels about right. It's oddly satisfying in a druglike way.

It can become really negative because video gaming is a closed loop. Nothing about a person is likely to change in a good way as a result of gaming. It also encourages an illusion of control and mastery that sometimes seems to engender frustration when the gaming addict tries to deal with real problems in real life.

I plead guilty to using MetaFilter, my email, and MetaChat as a fast-paced feedback loop sometimes. To keep it marginally healthier, I try to limit my internet activities to reading, writing, researching, and interpersonal communication, so that there will at least be some content knowledge or social network building that results. THis way I feel that I am connected to the world and open to change from it, rather than just stimulating my brain on a hamster-wheel cycle.

I found gaming to be ultimately a waste of time, since once the game is over you walk away unimproved as a person, having lost hours of your life.

Interesting thoughts, miko. Thanks!

Everyone has covered it eloquently already, but lemme add one more 'me too' to the chorus. I'm the king of eating lunch at 3:30, having looked at the clock at 12:30 and having thought "I'll eat in 5 minutes..." Particularly in contrast to feeling scattered, hyperfocusing feels really good.

Miko, I must respectfully disagree with your assertion that playing games is a waste of time. Besides the obvious potential improvements in physical coordination, well-designed games, video and otherwise, can provide a workout for critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, opportunities for socialization and even educational value. Also, people seem to enjoy them.

miko, thanks for that perspective! What do you do for a living, if you don't mind me asking? If you do, just ignore that.

I'm hoping that the management skills we're trying to help him learn are going to be something for him to come back to time and again when he gets older....*crosses fingers*

So is htperfocusing part of the official diagnosis or is it anecdotal?

Well, it's not mentioned here, but this really isn't my field so I won't comment further.

iconomy, I'm a museum administrator, a freelance writer, and a very part-time graduate student. The hyperfocusing is ideal for museum professionals -- we're always faced with absorbing just piles of content quickly. For instance, when we're preparing an exhibit or new public program, I get to immerse myself in a specific topic for a few months. When it's over, I move on to the next (usually quite different) thing. It's also ideal for a freelancer, since you can pretty much work on projects that interest you, and each piece is finite.

But I think this orientation to work fits well into any career which is project-based and content-based. Some other fields in which I think this works well: journalism, filmmaking, academia, theatre, broadcasting, advertising, publishing, music, education.

Yeah, hyperfocusing is real, my comment was on the cuff between sarcasm and a jab at both internet and self-diagnosis, I hope I cleared that up with my second comment, jessamyn's comment was a good one as it made sure that faulty information did not stand, my bed sucks so I'm up earlier than I would like to be on Sunday morning.