Compulsive Obsessions, aka Hyperfocus, Perseveration

[alienpostie]

I haven't logged in for a while but I was writing this blog post and I thought some of you here might be interested in my thoughts.

I have "ADHD: Predominantly Inattentive type" which is basically ADHD without the "H" (or ADD as I like to call it). What this means, in practice, is that I have a hard time focusing, particularly on subjects I am uninterested in; I get distracted very easily and frequently, which causes chores and jobs to take a lot longer than they should; I am constantly misplacing things, even if I had them just a few moments before; I make a lot of impulsive decisions and I daydream a lot, I can even inadvertently tune out a conversation because I got lost in thought about something completely random. Pretty much standard ADD with a little impulsiveness thrown in there.

The flip side of ADD is what is commonly knows as "hyperfocus" and less kindly called "perseveration" by some professionals. Here are the dictionary definitions most closely related to ADD:

"Hyperfocus is an intense form of mental concentration or visualization that focuses consciousness on a narrow subject, separate from objective reality and onto subjective mental planes, daydreams,concepts, fiction, the imagination, and other objects of the mind. Hyperfocus may also be regarded as a psychiatric diagnosis, as a distraction from reality, when it is considered as a symptom of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder."

" (Perseverate) to repeat an activity to an extreme that it interferes with other activities."

This is what I call obsessions. For the sake of continuity I'll call it obsession from here on out, but it is essentially hyperfocus and/or perseveration. To clarify, obsessions, as I understand them, are when I get strongly focused on a particular topic and I am unable to divert my attention; outside stimulus (e.g. someone starts talking to me) is completely unnoticed or ignored; interruptions can cause disproportionately vehement anger and even when working on something else my thoughts persist on the topic of my obsession. The obsession, while inevitably about a subject that interests me, can be about some really ridiculous things, usually irrelevant to any practical purpose. It is almost uncontrollable; it can be extremely difficult to divert my attention to something more useful despite how much I want to. This is where the "compulsive" from the title comes in.

When I was first seeking a diagnosis for ADD, I told the doctor about my obsessions and she was leaning slightly towards OCD rather than ADD. I knew that I didn't have OCD; I don't worry, have bad thoughts or doubts, I don't compulsively clean or repeat little 'rituals', I'm not "a neat freak, a hypochondriac, superstitious, rigid, or a pack-rat" (looked up an OCD checklist there!). I do have obsessions, but they are more the 'hyperfocus/perseveration' type of obsessions.

Don't get me wrong, my obsessions are bad. I am almost always obsessed with something and any particular obsession can last from a couple of hours to a month or more! It most definitely does interfere with my life. For instance, right now, I am supposed to be finishing off the trim, carpet and ceiling in the hallway (I'm fixing up my house) and it's very important that I get it done because I'm leaving for Scotland in less than a week; but all I can think about is writing this damn blog post! It's not important at all!

Last night, I jokingly said "I don't have ADD or OCD, I have COD - Compulsive Obsession Disorder!" I was being flippant, facetious, but the more I think about it the more I feel that it really fits. Yes, I still have all the little distractions and focus issues that are pure ADD but none of those affect my life quite as severely as my Compulsive Obsessions. I guess it's not really a disorder in it's own right, but perhaps it is a more apt description for a symptom which the terms hyperfocus and perseveration don't do an adequate job of describing.

Compulsive - "Resulting from or relating to an irresistible urge, esp. one that is against one's conscious wishes"

Obsession - "An idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind"

So, does anyone else here feel like they suffer from "compulsive obsessions" rather than hyperfocus or perseveration? Let me know

Stu

[Assumption]

Yeah, I get the exact same thing. Haven't yet been diagnosed though. But you've pretty much described me exactly.

[daveddd]

yes i do

i thought that what hyperfocus or perseveration was, but then again im still not even positive those are real words yet either

whatever it is, i recently read and im not surprised, that it could be linked to delayed reward processing

[belonging]

Me too. Came to the same realization that it wasn't/couldn't be OCD due to lack of rituals etc.

I kind of like the hyper-focus thing though - feels good and helps me get through projects (if they interest me enough) and makes a change from my mind racing from one thing to another.

[Assumption]

FYI, OCD doesn't always have rituals. It's obsessions and/or compulsions. Sometimes people just get the obsessions with no compulsions (called pure-O).

[Assumption]

That said, the obsessions of OCD are completely different to the obsessiveness that goes with ADHD. OCD is more about intrusive thoughts that crop up unbidden that are distressing to think about. ADHD is more like "pies are awesome."

[belonging]

lol... I have to admit that I can find it kind of hard to differentiate between ocd (obsessions only vs adhd hyperfocus/obessive behaviour) because I am a worrier so I like that explanation!

I've read that the treatments are different - one being serotonin uptake and the other dopamine so the correct diagnosis is crucial.

[fracturedstory]

I see my 'obsessive hyper focus' more as 'stimulation' because it's that much of a short burst compared to the interests I've had that have been really obsessive. I pretty much only care about my interests, the longer ones. I can go from 4 months to 2 years, sometimes longer. I still have the ones that last from an hour to no longer than a day. Those are the troubling ones. They get it in the way of my true interests.

I'm only able to talk to people about my interests, I always think of them, always want to put aside time for them. Heck, I almost signed up to the Air Force. So I can see why they could be thought of as 'obsessive.'

Before you say it, no it's not OCD. It's autism. I have hardly any OCD symptoms. I may seem OCD because I try to obey my sister's rules who has OCD. I just hate it when people call me OCD.

My routines and repetitive behaviour seemed to stop on SSRIs so there may be a correlation between autism and OCD. I hated losing my interests though. SSRIs just make you exist as a smiley non-anxious no emotional being. My anxiety helps me get things done and sometimes stops me from doing certain things. But I love my obsessive interests. I've always been this way and it's the only way I can make some money.

I can just tell the difference between autism interests and ADHD hyper focus. Hyper focus is so short, random and it may give me a bit of knowledge. Or something good might come from it. Usually I've wasted about 4 hours. Or 9 if I had two fillets of fish. Damn that fish. Autism interests are me. They are my only reason for being. They set me apart from the world, give me a real personality. They are my identity. My passion. My one true love. They also help me interact with the beings of this world.

[belonging]

Sounds similar to me - I get it.