The top 11 attention disorders

Attention is one of the most basic cognitive processes, since it allows focusing mental resources on specific foci for carrying out other psychological operations, such as the perception of stimuli from the environment. Different types of alterations, both with an organic base and without it, can cause alterations in this function.

In this article we will describe the characteristics of the 11 main attention disorders. Most of them are included in the category of hypoprosexias (alterations due to attentional deficits), if It is also important to mention hyperprosexias, aprosexias, paraprosexias and pseudoaprosexias.

• You may be interested: "The 16 most common mental disorders"

The main attention disorders

Psychopathological disorders of attention are generally classified according to how they affect this cognitive function: specifically, we are talking about aprosexia, hyperprosexia or hypoprosexia, among other terms, depending on whether they involve an increase, decrease or absence of attention resources. In any case, these concepts are somewhat confusing.

Hypoprosexias, characterized by reduced ability to attend to stimuli, are the most common attention disorders. Within this category we find phenomena such as distractibility, emotional attentive lability, Attention inhibition, neglect syndrome, attention fatigability, apathy, or perplexity.

Aprosexia is defined as the total absence of attention; in this sense we could say that it constitutes an extreme form of hypoprosexia. The phenomenon of stupor, in which the person does not respond to almost any type of stimulation and is associated with psychosis, epilepsy, drug use and brain injuries, is the best example of aprosexia.

2. Pseudoaprosexia

In the literature on psychopathology of attention, this term is used to refer to cases that they apparently correspond to the signs of aprosexia, but they do not imply true alterations of attention. A) Yes, pseudoaprosexias are framed in hysterical and simulation contexts, fundamentally.

3. Hyperprosexia

We speak of hyperprosexia when, in the context of a transitory alteration of consciousness (caused by manic episodes or drug use, mainly), there is an intensification and / or an excessive focus of attention, often accompanied by hypervigilance and hyperlucidity. Like hypoprosexia, destabilizes attention and impairs performance.

4. Paraprosexia

This concept is used to describe two different types of disturbances. Karl Jaspers spoke of paraprosexia as the anomalous direction of attention that occurs in disorders such as hypochondria, in which excess concern for certain physical signs can increase them. Other authors consider that paraprosexia is similar to attentional instability.

5. Distractability

In psychopathological contexts such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, episodes manic or the twilight states of epilepsy there is a marked instability of the focus attention for. In this sense, distractibility it is a type of hypoprosexia, as are the rest of the alterations that we will mention.

• Related article: "Twilight state: what is it, symptoms and causes"

6. Emotional attentive lability

The context "emotional attentive lability" is used in a very specific way to define alterations in the stability and performance of attention that stem from states of intense anxiety, for example those that could occur in disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder.

7. Inattention or inhibition of attention

In these cases, the term refers to the reduction of the ability to direct attention to a specific focus. Attention inhibition may have an organic origin (in which case it usually presents with disorientation and memory problems) or psychological, as in melancholic depression and chronic psychoses.

8. Attentional fatigue

Post-traumatic stress disorder, severe depression, brain tumors and infections, or disorders Neurodegenerative diseases, especially dementias, frequently cause alterations due to deficits in the functions attentional. People with attentional fatigue they tend to feel tired in general and have memory problems.

9. Apathetic inattention

We find manifestations of attentional apathy in very different contexts: in conditions of intense fatigue and sleep, due to malnutrition, due to abuse of certain psychoactive substances, in diffuse neurodegenerative disorders or in the states asthenic-apathetic. In some cases it is simply attributed to the personality of the subject.

10. Perplexity

In the area of ​​psychopathology of attention, the term "perplexity" defines a type of qualitative alteration of this function that implies a inability to give meaning to perceived stimuli, as well as their own behaviors. Although it is a highly questioned concept, it could be applied to phenomena such as twilight states.

11. Neglect syndrome

Left spatial hemineglect syndrome (or simply “neglect syndrome”) is a disorder very particular brain that appears as a consequence of focal lesions in the right hemisphere of the brain. The most representative symptoms include spatial neglect, inattention and akinesia for one half of the body or visual field.

Bibliographic references:

• Froján, M.X. and Santacreu, J. (1999). What is a psychological treatment. Madrid: New Library.
• Gavino, A. (2002). Help Guide for the Cognitive Behavioral Therapist. Madrid: Pyramid.
• Luciano, M.C. (nineteen ninety six). Manual of clinical psychology. Childhood and adolescence. Valencia: Promolibro.