Hyperfixation – What it is, what causes it, and how to overcome it.

This is a comprehensive article covering the symptoms, problems and hidden advantages of Hyperfixation. Most importantly, at the end of the article, we go into detail about the most effective ways to support someone overcome hyperfixation.

Hyperfixation is the intense focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else.

Hyperfixation can be a negative trait when the object of the hyperfocus is something seen to be a waste of time, such as playing video games for hours on end, or staying up all night to read a book and then not being able to get out of bed in the morning. 

It can also have negative consequences when the hyperfixation leads to ignoring other important aspects of life, like forgetting to eat or neglecting family and loved ones.

Hyperfixation can also be a very positive trait when it is focused on important things and managed well. Many successful business leaders, entrepreneurs, musicians and athletes are hyperfixated on their chosen field. Their intense focus is an essential source of their success. (More on that later.)

The words “hyperfixation” and “hyperfocus” are often used interchangeably. Some researchers prefer the term “hyperfixation” while others use “hyperfocus.” However, there is no real distinction between the two terms, so in this article we will use them interchangeably.

In this article we’ll cover:

Short course via Zoom: How to Understand and Support a Child with Hyperfixation Issues

  •  

Focus

 

What is Hyperfixation?

Definition of Hyperfixation:

Hyperfixation is complete absorption in a task, to a point where a person appears to completely ignore or ‘tune out’ everything else. An example of hyperfixation is when a child becomes engrossed in a video game to a point where they do not hear a parent calling their name.

Hyperfixation is characterized by:

    1. An intense state of concentration and focus.
    2. Awareness of things not related to the current focus not even consciously noticed.
    3. Hyperfixation is usually dedicated to things that the person finds enjoyable or fascinating.
    4. During a hyperfixation state, task performance improves.

Read: How to Overcome Hyperfixation

Short course via Zoom: How to Understand and Support a Child with Hyperfixation Issues

Adapted from “Hyperfocus: the forgotten frontier of attention” by Professor Brandon K. Ashinoff, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, USA and Ahmad Abu-Akel, Research Fellow at Institut de psychologie, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Hyperfixation and Neurodiversity

Almost everyone has experienced moments of hyperfixation in their lives. Having said that, people with ADHD, ASD (Autism Spectrum) and schizophrenia are likely to experience hyperfixation more intensely and more frequently than neurotypical people [1].

ADHD is usually thought of as having a high degree of distractibility and a short attention span. However, individuals with ADHD can, paradoxically, sustain intense attention in the form of hyperfocus.

Depending on the object of hyperfixation, and how it is managed, this can be both a blessing and a curse. We’ll get into that more later in this article.

Read: How to Overcome Hyperfixation

Short course via Zoom: How to Understand and Support a Child with Hyperfixation Issues

Forgetting to eat

How to identify hyperfixation

So, how do you know when you or someone else is in a state of hyperfixation?

Here are some common characteristics of a state of hyperfixation:

  • Lose track of time. The person is so focused on one thing that they completely lose track of time. When they emerge from their state of hyperfixation, they have no idea of whether they were ‘gone’ for an hour or 12 hours.
  • Forget to eat. The person is so focused on one thing that they simply forget to eat. When they emerge from their state of hyperfixation, they may realize that they are starving.
  • Not hear people talking to them. If you talk to someone in a hyperfocused state, they will often ignore you. It’s not that they’re being rude, it’s that they literally don’t hear you.
  • Not notice what’s going on around them. The sun sets and it gets dark; people come and go; the smell of dinner wafting from the kitchen; you calling them to eat; you telling them it’s time to go to bed; the kids screaming for attention; you telling them you need to talk… They don’t notice any of these things because their singular focus tunes everything else out.

Read: How to Overcome Hyperfixation

Short course via Zoom: How to Understand and Support a Child with Hyperfixation Issues

The Problems of Hyperfixation

Hyperfixation can have disastrous consequences for the person themselves and the people around them.

For the hyperfocused person, the downsides can include:

  • Forgetting to eat
  • Forgetting to sleep
  • Neglecting family and loved ones
  • Neglecting other responsibilities in their life
  • Focusing exclusively on things that are ‘entertaining’ but not useful or productive (wasting time)

For the family and loved ones of a hyperfocused person, the downsides can include:

  • Feeling like they just don’t listen
  • Feeling ignored and unloved
  • Feeling frustrated that they’re wasting their time on unimportant things
  • Feeling like there’s no give-and-take in the relationship – their obsession always comes first

For parents of hyperfixated kids, this can be especially challenging. We go into more depth on that topic in our post 11 Challenges of Raising a Child with Hyperfixation.

Read: How to Overcome Hyperfixation

Short course via Zoom: How to Understand and Support a Child with Hyperfixation Issues

Hidden Advantages of Hyperfixation

While hyperfixation can have many disadvantages, when applied properly, it can be an essential success strategy.

When hyperfixation is applied to something that is useful and productive, the benefits include:

  • Almost inexhaustible energy
  • The ability to constantly practice and improve
  • A depth of focus that allows them to outperform almost anyone else
  • The ability to keep going and eventually succeed in the face of seemingly-impossible challenges

Some famous people who seem to have the ability to hyperfocus include:

  • Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, who was obsessively focused on creating great user experiences (and also is on the Autism spectrum)
  • Simone Biles, considered to be the most successful gymnast of all time (who also has ADHD)
  • Elon Musk, who’s obsessively focused on creating technological innovations to solve difficult and important problems (and is also on the Autism spectrum)
  • Albert Einstein, you know, he invented General Relativity and changed our view of the universe forever (and was also dyslexic)
  • Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, was obsessively focused on building computer technology, and is now equally obsessively focused on his philanthropic endeavours. (See the documentary “Inside Bill’s Brain.”)

The list goes on and on. Just look at anyone who’s a world-class leader in their field, and you’ll almost certainly find that they spend most of their time hyperfocused on their single obsession in life.

Read: How to Overcome Hyperfixation

Short course via Zoom: How to Understand and Support a Child with Hyperfixation Issues

Hyperfixation and ‘flow’

Time magazine summarized ‘flow‘ as “a happy state of mind, the feeling of complete engagement in a creative or playful activity.”

In positive psychology, a flow state, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by the complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting transformation in one’s sense of time.

Wikipedia

Many researchers ([2], [3], [4], [5]) have compared ‘flow states’ and being ‘in the zone’ with ‘hyperfixation’, finding that there are many similarities between the two.

In other words, flow states, which many people seek as a state of optimal experience and productivity, is, in many ways, a state of hyperfixation applied in productive ways.

How to Support Someone to Overcome Hyperfixation

Now the million dollar question: If you or someone you care about hypefixates, how can you support them to stop non-productive hyperfixation?

Short course via Zoom: How to Understand and Support a Child with Hyperfixation Issues

Here’s our advice on how to stop hyperfixation:

  • Get a complete neurodevelopmental assessment to identify the underlying causes of the hyperfixation, with a neurodevelopmental specialist who will also develop a personalized Neurodevelopmental Movement Program
  • Follow the personalized Neurodevelopmental Movement Program developed by your specialist
  • This will often reduce or remove the person’s need to hyperfixate and enable them to focus on more productive things. It usually takes only a few months to see noticeable improvements

This advice is very different from the old-school advice you’ll see out there, which boils down to two things:

  • Set time limits on non-productive activities
  • Try to get them to focus on things you want them to do, rather than things they want to do

So why do we recommend something so different?

Well, if you have a hyperfocused child, you’ve already tried these, and you already know the results.

Trying to set time limits leads to constant conflicts. It’s frustrating for both of you. The problem never goes away. Family life becomes a battleground where no one wins and everyone is miserable.

Trying to get your child to focus on more productive things instead of their current obsession sounds like a good idea. But you’ve tried that too and you know it doesn’t work.

So you’re frustrated. Your child is frustrated. And nothing changes.

It’s not your fault. It’s just that there’s no good advice out there.

The problem is that advice like this addresses the visible issues without finding out what the root causes are and addressing those. It’s like taking your child who’s crying (because they have a painful stomach ache) to the doctor… and the doctor says, “Just tell your child to stop crying!”

It makes no sense.

The real problem is that most people see hyperfixation only as misbehavior to be controlled, instead of seeing it as a symptom of other underlying issues which need to be addressed.

So to deal with hyperfixation issues effectively, we first need to understand the underlying causes…

The Underlying Causes of Hyperfixation

Unfortunately, there’s no single answer to what leads a person to hyperfixate in non-productive ways. 

Sure, people with ADD / ADHD and ASD (Aspergers’s – Autism Spectrum) are more likely to hyperfixate than others, but even within those categories, the specific reasons for a specific individual to hyperfixate do still vary widely. 

Add to that people who hyperfixate but don’t have one of the neurodiverse diagnoses, and the list of possible underlying causes gets very long.

But that’s OK. It just takes careful detective work from a skilled practitioner to figure out what’s really going on.

Having said that, here are some of the most common underlying causes of hyperfixation, which we’ve seen with our clients over the years.

  • Visual hyposensitivity
    Some people have a lower sensitivity to visual stimuli than others. For something to really catch and keep their attention, they need really strong visual stimuli. So they seek out intense visual stimulation. Video games or TikTok anyone? They don’t get overwhelmed by these intense visual stimulations, but rather want it. Actually need it.
  • Auditory hypersensitivity
    Some people are hypersensitive to sounds. The noise of someone chewing or the sound of their classmates’ pencils writing on paper can drive them completely crazy. So to block everything out, they give their complete focus to just one thing. It’s a relief to not have their ears and brains bombarded with all those noises for a while.
  • Anxiety
    It’s well known that people who experience a lot of anxiety can use hyperfixation as a way to ‘forget themselves’ – and stop feeling their anxiety – for a while, by immersing themselves completely in something.
    Sometimes there’s another aspect to anxiety and hyperfixation. Kids undergoing growth spurts and hormonal changes, along with many neurodiverse people often have a poor sense of proprioception (being aware of and feeling their own bodies), which causes constant anxiety. This is because they literally don’t know where their limbs are and what’s going on in their bodies. For them, being hyperfocused on frenetic activities or repeated movements (stimming) can give them a sense of relief, as the activities allow them to feel their bodies better, and so relieve stress.
  • Difficulty switching focus
    Many people on the Autism spectrum struggle with transitioning from one activity to another. So they just get fixated on one thing so they don’t have to deal with the stress of switching from one thing to another. If that activity is a video game or social media, then there’s a double whammy. Those platforms are specifically designed to get people immersed and keep them immersed. And unfortunately, they do that very well.
  • Hypervigilant
    Some people are hypervigilant – always worried about what might happen next. They may often stand on the side and watch what’s going on around them so they won’t get any unpleasant surprises. But if they find something on their smartphone or computer that they can immerse themselves in… that actually gives them a break because they can finally stop worrying about what’s going on around them.
  • Difficulty planning activities (praxsis)
    For some people, it’s hard to plan and carry out activities. They just cannot figure out the first step to start a new activity. So it’s easier for them to hyperfocus on just one thing than deal with the strain of thinking about what they will do next and planning the first step.
  • Vision issues
    Some people have issues with their vision that make it easier for them to see and process things that are close up than farther away. So staying glued to their phone over dinner is easier on their eyes and brains than looking up to talk with the rest of the family.

This is just a short list of some of the most common underlying issues we’ve seen that can lead to hyperfixation. The list of possible causes is almost endless.

So to uncover what’s really going on for your child, it’s essential to do an in-depth assessment of their neurological development, strengths and weaknesses, and any environmental factors that are leading them to hyperfixate.

An Effective Approach to Overcoming Hyperfixation

So, we recommend an approach that first identifies the underlying causes of the hyperfixation. Then we design a custom Neurodevelopmental Movement Program for them.

“What’s a Neurodevelopmental Movement Program?” you ask. 

Good question!

It consists of simple, carefully-designed movement activities that, over time, help your child develop the neurological capabilities they need to stop hyperfixating. And, of course, the Neurodevelopmental Movement Program has to be custom-designed for the specific needs of your child. There’s no one-size-fits-all here.

Madeleine Portwood [1] has written extensively about this approach in her book Developmental Dyspraxia: Identification and Intervention: A Manual for Parents and Professionals.

HANDLE® providers are also trained to develop Neurodevelopmental Movement Programs for individual students.

Neuroscientists at the Harborview Medical Center have shown that the HANDLE approach can be effective in treating issues even as severe as chronic traumatic brain injury. The neurodevelopmental issues of hyperfixating children are generally much less severe than traumatic brain injury, and so it is reasonable to assume, easier to address. [6]

At Oxford Specialist Tutors, we use the HANDLE approach.

Online vs. In-Person Support

Unfortunately, there are very few people who can provide these services. Finding a qualified expert near you might be impossible.

Considering online support opens up a lot more options, but does it really work?

In the old days, to develop a Neurodevelopmental Movement Program, we used to drive or fly to meet with the child and family, and observe them in person.

This creates the obvious challenges of travel time, costs and scheduling. 

But the bigger problem was that by flying in, we could only observe a child for a limited amount of time in one specific situation. We couldn’t get a full picture of the child doing a wide range of activities in their daily lives.

Fortunately, the Internet and smartphones have saved us from that.

It turns out that the best way to gather the observational information is for the parents and caregivers to take short video clips of the child going about their daily life – in all the different environments the child visits, doing a range of different activities.

With this collection of video clips, the neurodevelopmental movement expert can gather much richer and more complete information than was ever possible through in-person visits.

Then the remainder of the developmental program can easily be done online. Typically the expert will show the parents simple activities to practice with their child. Then all the actual neurodevelopmental activities are done as structured ‘play’ time between the parents and their child.

If the child is in their teens, the neurodevelopmental expert may also work with the child directly online.

Get Support to Overcome Hyperfixation

If you would like to talk with one of our experts to discuss what would be the best approach to support your hyperfixating child, book a free consultation today.

Additional Resources

As many people with the tendency to hyperfixation also have ADHD or ASD, you might also be interested in these articles:

Related Articles:

 

 

References to Hyperfixation and Hyperfocus Research

[1] Ashinoff, B.K., Abu-Akel, A., Hyperfocus: the forgotten frontier of attention, Psychological Research 85, 1–19 (2021),
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01245-8

[2] Michael Esterman, Sarah K. Noonan, Monica Rosenberg, Joseph DeGutis, In the Zone or Zoning Out? Tracking Behavioral and Neural Fluctuations During Sustained Attention, Cerebral Cortex, Volume 23, Issue 11, November 2013, Pages 2712–2723,
https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhs261

[3] Michael Esterman, Monica D. Rosenberg and Sarah K. Noonan, Intrinsic Fluctuations in Sustained Attention and Distractor Processing, Journal of Neuroscience 29 January 2014, 34 (5) 1724-1730; DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2658-13.2014 

[4] Kucyi, A., Hove, M. J., Esterman, M., Hutchison, R. M., & Valera, E. M., Dynamic brain network correlates of spontaneous fluctuations in attention. Cerebral Cortex, 27(3), 1831–1840,
https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhw029

[5] Dietrich, A., Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the experience of flow, Consciousness and Cognition, 13(4), 746–761,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2004.07.002

[6] Philipp Ritt, Torsten Kuwert, Quantitative SPECT/CT—Technique and Clinical Applications, Molecular Imaging in Oncology, 10.1007/978-3-030-42618-7_17, (565-590), (2020).
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1552-6569.2006.00034.x

Turn Hyperfixation
Into a Superpower.

At Oxford Specialist Tutors, we help those with Hyperfixation succeed not only in college, but in life.

I want to improve performance...