{"id":117143,"date":"2020-12-15T09:22:16","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T17:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/people-with-adhd-can-actually-focus-so-hard-its-scary"},"modified":"2020-12-15T09:22:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T17:22:16","slug":"people-with-adhd-can-actually-focus-so-hard-its-scary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/people-with-adhd-can-actually-focus-so-hard-its-scary","title":{"rendered":"People With ADHD Can Actually Focus So Hard it\u2019s Scary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/people-with-adhd-can-actually-focus-so-hard-its-scary.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Is ADHD actually a superpower that goes out of control from time to time? Can it be turned into an advantage?<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>Unclench. Mary is just an urban legend\u2014a case example of how people with Attention-Deficit\/Hyperactivity Disorder can hyperfocus on a task for hours, losing all awareness of their surroundings. Hers is a story that people in the ADHD community tell themselves so we will feel less alone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe all hate the name ADHD,\u201d says Elaine Taylor-Klaus, cofounder of Atlanta consultancy group ImpactADHD. Because the word \u201cdeficit\u201d is in the name, many incorrectly assume having ADHD means you can\u2019t pay attention. Instead, ADHDers often pay more attention to certain tasks than we should. It\u2019s called hyperfocus.<\/p>\n<p>Kimberly Gordon, a psychiatrist at Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore, explains the symptom as \u201can intense, deep concentration on a specific task.\u201d Like our mythological Mary, Gordon says, \u201cWhen individuals with ADHD hyperfocus on one thing, they tend to block out everything else going on around them. The brain sends off signals of activity, pleasure, and engagement as they are immersed in a task while hyperfocused.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is ADHD actually a superpower that goes out of control from time to time? Can it be turned into an advantage? Unclench. Mary is just an urban legend\u2014a case example of how people with Attention-Deficit\/Hyperactivity Disorder can hyperfocus on a task for hours, losing all awareness of their surroundings. Hers is a story that people [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":609,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1495,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/609"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}