What is hyperfocus? What is hyperfixation?

If you or your family are neurodivergent in some way, you may have come across the following terms: hyperfocus or hyperfixation, special interest, and stimming.

These are three types of behaviour that are very common in people with ADHD, autism, or both. They can often be assumed to be the same thing but are actually three distinct behaviours that can nevertheless occur in the same person and at the same time.

We're going to do a series on all three.

Let’s start by talking about hyperfocus or hyperfixation.

It is a behaviour often seen in people with ADHD, though it is not (yet) part of the diagnostic criteria. It is one of the behaviours that can sometimes be described as an “ADHD Superpower” because in certain situations it can be very useful.

Hyperfocus is defined as highly focused attention paid to a task or topic. It has to include these four criteria:

Induced by task engagement – people with ADHD do best when something is novel, interesting, challenging, or urgent.

Intense state of sustained or selective attention – they stay focused for a long time, or the person keeps going back to that particular task or topic because they enjoy it a lot.

Diminished perception of non-task relevant stimuli – the person doesn’t hear their name being called, or ignores their body’s cues such as hunger or the need to go to the toilet.

Task performance improves – they are literally better at this particular task than neurotypical people.

Hyperfocus has been previously identified and described as a “flow state” or being “in the zone”. Some people can learn to trigger their hyperfocus, especially if they end up working or studying an area of strong interest, and so in that case it can be a superpower.

Other times, hyperfocus can be a burden, if it is triggered for an activity that is inappropriate or just generally gets in the way of other tasks that need to be done.

For example, a person with ADHD might start cleaning their room, find a craft they started ages ago, be distracted by it, and suddenly three hours have passed, and they’ve knitted another sleeve but made no progress on cleaning their room.

Hyperfocus is a normal activity for a neurodivergent person and is not usually a cause for concern. If you are worried about a particular behaviour, talk to your child or observe them quietly when they are doing it, and see if you can figure out why this particular behaviour is useful or rewarding for them.

That ought to give you some guidance on what other less-worrisome activities may be attractive to your child so you can start slowly introducing new stimuli and redirecting their behaviour.

Tam Clemerson

I'm Tam Clemerson. I am a queer neurodivergent parent. I grew up in Wellington and did my dash in the public service before moving into union advocacy. I am currently studying Law at Vic Uni and spend my time juggling lectures and readings with swimming lessons and football games.