hi! i noticed you have inattentive adhd, so do i, but i dont hyperfixate (or i havent in a very long time, im not sure) im just wondering if thats because i have inattentive type or something? or if maybe i was misdiagnosed? idk if you answer questions or not tho so you can ignore this if you want :)
Hello! Yes, I do answer asks, though I don’t get very many.
I did some quick Googling to see if I could find anything more authoritative than my own experiences. I found this study published just last month that says it found no meaningful difference in the frequency, duration, or pervasiveness of hyperfocus between people with ADHD and people without. (This study has some really interesting charts and stuff--I recommend taking a look!)
The study also broke out Inattentive vs. Hyperactive types of ADHD (see Table 3 at the above link) and it looks like, based on their findings, that hyperactive types experience hyperfocus more often and more pervasively. (Someone please correct me if I’m wrong--I took one social research class in college and I’m doing my best to remember how to interpret these kinds of tables!)
However, this study points to previous other studies that have shown the opposite. That first study also noted that hyperfocus “is a known symptom in clinical practice, [but] it is not included in diagnostic manuals as an official symptom of ADHD.” So I can’t say whether you were misdiagnosed, but hyperfocus is not required to receive a diagnosis!
So... it sounds to me like, clinically and research...ly speaking, it’s inconclusive??
Switching to my own experiences, I do experience hyperfocus/hyperfixation, to varying degrees. Here are a few of the ways I’ve experienced what I consider to be hyperfocus:
Spending 15 hours straight playing Stardew Valley, barely stopping to pee and eat.
Getting a crush on someone and thinking about them ALL. THE. TIME.
Becoming so focused on my work that I don’t notice when someone is trying to talk to me.
Reading books in one sitting for 10+ hours straight.
Glancing at tumblr in the morning and then realizing I’ve been scrolling for over an hour and now I’m late for work.
Glancing at tumblr before bed and then realizing that I’ve been scrolling for over an hour and I’ve lost out on precious sleep time.
Getting into a new show or fandom and trying to absorb everything about it (I do this less now, but you should have seen me in college learning everything there is to know about David Cook from American Idol season 7 and memorizing entire sections of The HP Lexicon.)
So, I guess, I think it’s different for everyone. And I don’t think these are the only ways to experience hyperfocus. Hyperfocus can look like laziness. It can look like nerdiness or fan culture. It can look like “selective hearing” or other forms of inattention.
It’s not one size fits all.
And, personally, I don’t think a lack of hyperfocus means you don’t have ADHD. This article from ADDitude Magazine says that “hyperfocus is thought to result from abnormally low levels of dopamine... This dopamine deficiency makes it hard to “shift gears” to take up boring-but-necessary tasks.” If you don’t hyperfocus, your brain probably has other coping mechanisms it prefers to make up for your lower levels of dopamine.
I hope this was helpful!
