Set-shifting
"Some people have problems in quickly moving from one activity to another, changing their behavioral "set." This is known as a problem in set-shifting. They have difficulty responding to changes in their environment. Doctors commonly use the term perseveration to describe this tendency to inappropriately continue a previous behavior. People who perseverate tend to persist with a behavior even when it is no longer needed. They may seem "stuck" on acting a certain way. They may repeat the same question or tell the same story over and over again unless the people around them make an effort to get them shifted to another topic. It's easy to become angry at this kind of person, who appears too persistent, but in truth this behavior is the result of a neurological problem that is interfering with the ability to shift behavioral programs."

I'm reading where this is one of many "Executive Dysfunctions" seen in various neurological and psychological disorders (such as ADHD, autism/Asperger Syndrome, and epilepsy to name a few).

Some other common Executive Dysfunctions are problems with:

Initiation (getting started)
Sustained Attention
Planning and Organization
Conceptual Functions (thinking abstractly)
Awareness and Insight

Though I see some of these other problems in myself, I really have big problems with set shifting. I get into something and I keep going and going and going and going...... I perseverate. (Reminds me of Asperger Syndrome in many ways, but I don't fit the criteria for AS). It helps me to set timers so that I'll stop whatever "project" I'm doing that particular day and remember to eat or take my meds or do laundry or...... (well, you get the idea). That's if it occurs to me to set the timer.

It's a blessing (because I can really get a lot done) and a curse (because I get obsessive very easily). Does anyone else run into this?

~Sandy

That's interesting. I don't have too much of a problem with set-shifting unless I go into hyperfocus. My husband is more likely to get "stuck" doing something and keep stubbornly working on it long after a sane person would have stopped. ;) Serves him well at work, though...

I hyperfocus a lot. It has it's good points, but.....

Well, you know. ;)

I can shift from task to task usually. But if i'm tired, then forget it. And i have a problem with self-motivation. Some days, forget it. Not happening.

I have noticed that for the most part, my ADD is "mild". I do tend to take things personally, a lot. Too much. And even though I tell myself they really aren't discussing me or how stupid i am, i still feel like it.

So I guess that means my problems are initiation and awareness and insight.

The answer for me is "depends".

Sometimes I get working on something and it is VERY hard for me to abandon it until it is finished EXACTLY RIGHT.

Other times, I can be juggling three things at once, pick up two more, abandon one of the first, etc. etc. etc...

When I thought about this question a little more, I remembered that I used to do a lot more of this hyperfocusing. Especially with research and writing tasks, I was able to accomplish a lot in very little time. (This would be a phenomenal gift IF I could turn the hyperfocus on and off at will... :p ) Right now I don't often get the opportunity, because small children like to interrupt me. And if they're NOT interrupting me, I'm always aware that something bad is happening in another room...

I also can hyperfocus at times and then jump from one task to another without finishing any of them. If am doing one task and my wife points out something else I need to do later I have a tendancy to jump into that task and not finish the original. I also when I am going good have a hard time stopping.
Jim

I have a good deal of trouble with 'set shifting' in my work. Where I see it is that if I get interupted it takes me a bit to get back to a task. If I get interupted often I never finish. I also take longer to do a task because I will put more work into it than is needed, I will explore the task in depth rather than just getting it done as quickly as possible.

I hyperfocus too, the only thing its something that I can't make myself do when I want it to. When it happens at work- good thing, when it happens when I'm trying to get to work and the TV grabs my attention - bad thing.

I can shift quickly between things when I'm not hyperfocusing, but if I am, then it takes a bus hitting me for me to change tasks.

Perseveration is a definitive autistic spectrum trait.
Can you give me a typical example ?

Hmmm. Well I get to reading about something (online) and I just keep reading and reading about it. I'm practically an "expert" on Autism, Asperger Syndrome, ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and Epilepsy. (Not really, ofcourse, but I read on those topics constantly......perseveration). There are days when I think I'm on Braintalk.com during 90% of my waking hours at home.

Or.....I get in the bathtub and it takes me forever to get out. I can't tell you how many times I've fallen asleep taking a bath. (Set-shifting).

I rarely sit down for meals because it means stopping whatever activity I'm doing. I usually to snack instead or take my meal to my activity. Usually the computer, but this applies to other things as well. I might be working on a bulletin board for church and will work right through mealtime. I want to get it done that day. If not in one day, then atleast in two. I'll wait until I get home at 3pm and eat my "lunch" then. I don't want to be bothered with eating.

My mother noticed this characteristic in me when I was very young. She would often say, "Once you get going on a project, you don't stop." I've explained this in two ways. One is that it's hard for me to "GET GOING" (motivated) and so once I do, I don't want to stop because I know that if I do, it will be hard for me to "GET GOING" again.

The other explanation I've given for this is I can be forgetful and so while a thought is in my head, I want to get that thought down. Tomorrow I might forget what I was going to do or what I was thinking about. I want to take advantage of it. (Strike while the iron is hot).

I'm also an impatient person. I'm sure that this enters into things. I find it hard to sit down and do nothing and so I go and go and go and go and go. It is difficult for me to sit down and read a novel (though I enjoy non-fiction). As a kid I would read encyclopedias-- and not just children's encyclopedia's either. I enjoy learning, but I have little patience when it comes to relaxing. As a child, I couldn't sit down and watch TV either. Just didn't have the patience. The internet is like one gigantic encyclopedia. :)

ADDled, As I said above I've read up on Autism/PDD-NOS and Asperger Syndrome. My youngest is dx'd as Autistic and my oldest was dx'd with ADHD at the age of 3 but was thought by her pediatrician to possibly have had Aspergers. She died in an accident, however, so we will never know.

I've suspected it in myself because of my perseveration and because of two of my daughters, (and a few other things-- like my OCD-like characteristics), but I don't fit enough of the criteria in the DSM-IV. (I've already discussed this with a psychologist-- in quite a few sessions in fact).

My ADHD and Epilepsy could account for the Perseveration and my OCD-ish quirks. As for 2 of my daughters being on the autism spectrum, the medications that I took during my pregnancies could account for that:

http://neuro-mancer.mgh.harvard.edu/ubb/Forum33/HTML/016802.html


~Sandy