Hyperprosexia: symptoms and treatment of this attentional disorder

The ability to attend to the stimuli that surround us is one of our most basic abilities and at the same time most essential for survival: after all, after all, even to feed ourselves or flee from predators we need to be able to pay attention and focus our resources on what is around us.

Thus, having a low attentional capacity is a relevant difficulty in nature, as well as in the social environment: it is more difficult for us to learn about things, understand them and be able to relate to the environment. Therefore, it may seem that having a high attention span is always a positive thing. And the truth is that, as a general rule, having a high attentional capacity can favor our adaptability.

However, there are conditions in which an excess of attentional capacity can occur, which implies the emergence of difficulties similar to those that would generate its deficit. This is what happens with hyperprosexia, which we will talk about throughout this article.

• Related article: "The 15 types of attention and what are their characteristics"

What is hyperprosexia?

We give the name of hyperprosexia to the condition characterized by the presence of an excessive focus of attention towards the stimuli of the environment. It is a quantitative alteration of attention, specifically an exacerbation of it. It assumes a highly pronounced interest in stimulation and the presence of hypervigilance and hyperlucidity, as well as the highest degree of alertness and concentration possible. It is considered within attention disorders or alterations, although it is generally considered more as a symptom than as a disorder per se.

Although it may seem that having heightened attention is a good thing, in reality, hyperprosexia often leads to high level of distractibility due to difficulty sustaining attention or withdrawing it from a stimulus concrete.

hyperprosexia can negatively affect the adaptation to the environment of those who suffer from it: It is difficult to learn at school, or to be productive in a company. It can also be problematic at the level of personal interaction, and can even be dangerous when carrying out activities such as driving.

Thus, the most important effects of hyperprosexia have to do with the time spent focusing on the really important stimuli, or with the inability to direct the attentional focus towards what is important due to the fact that there are other stimuli that are too distracting and do not allow the person to centre.

Types

There are two major aspects in which there may be an exacerbation of attentional capacity, although it is the first that has the greatest tendency to be considered hyperprosexia.

The first of them implies that the subject cannot concentrate, since he is unable to maintain attention at one point, given that in reality the person only superficially directs attention to the different stimuli before the rest of them claim their attention. This alteration supposes that the exacerbation of attentional mobility. In other words, he looks at everything but does not focus on anything, so the subject actually has high distractibility or attentional instability.

The second of the great options implies that the exacerbation is found in the fixation capacity: in this case the person concentrates in an extreme and persevering way on a stimulus, being unable to attend to other stimuli. Thus, the person only concentrates on a single stimulation and cannot react adequately to what is happening around him.

Thus, in practice, excessive attention has the paradoxical effect that we cannot concentrate on what is relevant, a fact that serves to question whether there really is an excess or lack of attention capacity. We must not forget that the criterion of whether or not enough care is taken depends on our ideas and beliefs about what is important and timely in each case; that is to say, that it is something debatable. Hyperprosexia is one more example that psychological disorders are always analyzed through social conventions and agreed ideas about what is good and what is bad.

Disorders associated with this alteration of attention

Hyperprosexia is a disturbance of attention that, as we have seen, It usually appears as a symptom of some physical or mental pathology rather than as a disorder in itself..

Among the different conditions in which it can arise, we can find substance intoxication or the use of exciting drugs such as cocaine. It can also be found in manic episodes, delusions or very high states of anxiety (not necessarily an anxiety disorder). On the other hand, it is observed in psychotic-type disorders, such as schizophrenia.

Treatment

Treatment of hyperprosexia It is usually linked to the disorder that has generated it, and different therapeutic strategies can be used depending on the causes of its appearance.

Thus, if we are facing drug intoxication, it may be useful to use blockers such as naloxone, mood stabilizers in the case of manic episodes or antipsychotics in the case of schizophrenia or other disorders psychotic The use of benzodiazepines or other anxiolytics may be helpful. In any case, the use of these medications should only be done through medical prescription.