Inattention, impulsivity and executive dysfunctioning are assumed to represent the core cognitive symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The costs of road crash injuries have been estimated to be above €180 billion for the EU per year (Peden et al. According to the WHO, road traffic accidents are the 8th leading cause of death globally with more than 1.2 million people killed in 2010 and for individuals aged 15–29, road traffic accidents even represent the 1st leading cause of death worldwide (World Health Organization 2013).
Adhd hyperfocus driving drivers#
If this interplay of functions is disrupted, drivers may place themselves as well as other individuals at considerable risk of being involved in road traffic accidents. A driver’s emotional state and personality may also play an important role in safe driving. With regard to cognition, the integrity of attentional processing, impulse control, and executive functions appear to be particularly relevant for safe driving however, other functions such as memory or visuospatial functions are also required (Lansdown 2002 Lincoln and Radford 2013 Rizzo and Kellison 2010).
However, driving also represents a rather complex task requiring the dynamic, mostly automatic, and hopefully error-free interplay of various perceptive, motor and cognitive functions. However, additional research is needed, in particular further studies that address the numerous methodological weaknesses of many of the previous studies.ĭriving is an important activity of daily living, which can be crucial for independent living, social integration, quality of life, life-satisfaction, and even mental health, such as susceptibility to depression (e.g., Man-Son-Hing et al. Pharmacological treatment of ADHD, in particular stimulant drug treatment, appears to be beneficial to the driving difficulties experienced by individuals with ADHD. Despite various cognitive functions being related with driving difficulties, these functions do not appear helpful in detecting high risk drivers with ADHD, nor in predicting driving outcomes in individuals with ADHD, since impairments in these functions are defining criteria for the diagnoses of ADHD (e.g., inattention and impulsivity). However, it appears that not all individuals with ADHD are affected uniformly. The available research provides convincing evidence that individuals with ADHD have different and more adverse driving outcomes than individuals without the condition. In the present study, a selective review of the literature on driving-related difficulties associated with ADHD is performed, seeking to answer whether individuals with ADHD show increased levels of unsafe driving behaviours, which cognitive (dys)functions of individuals with ADHD are related to driving difficulty, and whether pharmacological treatment significantly improves the driving behaviour of individuals with ADHD. Driving is an important activity of everyday life and requires an efficient interplay between multiple cognitive, perceptual, and motor skills. At that point, and especially when it happens repeatedly, its no longer a positive state like flow, but becomes debilitating.Adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suffer from various impairments of cognitive, emotional and social functioning, which can have considerable consequences for many areas of daily living.
Others are ignored and responsibilities fall by the wayside. Hyperfocus is a problem when the person experiencing it begins to ignore the world around them. Like most aspects of life, too much of a good thing can become dysfunctional. The ability to focus acutely or find a flow is not the problem with hyperfocus. When a person is in flow, focus is heightened, creativity is high, ideas conglomerate seamlessly and one point of focus after another simply falls into place. There is a concept called flow that most people experience. Latching onto a subject is not unique to people with ADHD or bipolar disorder. This is one reason some with bipolar disorder actually enjoy hypomania. Once they lock onto a desirable activity, a person can absorb themselves in it for hours at a time.
Periods of hyperfocus can help provide the focus to complete those projects.
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