Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder

by Edward M. Hallowell

A third element that favors creativity among people with ADD is an often-overlooked capacity they have. This is the ability to intensely focus or hyperfocus at times. As mentioned earlier, the term “attention deficit” is a misnomer. It is a matter of attention inconsistency. While it is true that the ADD mind wanders when not engaged, it is also the case that the ADD mind fastens on to its subject fiercely when it is engaged. A child with ADD may sit for hours meticulously putting together a model airplane. An adult may work with amazing concentration when faced with a deadline. Or an adult with ADD may become obsessed with a project and complete it in a tenth of the time one would have predicted. This ability to hyperfocus heats up the furnace in the brain, so to speak, and melts down rigid elements so they may easily flow and commingle, allowing for new products to be formed once they hit the cool light of day. The intensity of the furnace when it heats up may help explain why it needs to cool down, to be distracted, when it is not heated up.