Hyperprosexia: Symptoms And Treatment Of This Attention Disorder

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

Thus, having a low attentional capacity represents 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 attention span can favor our adaptability.

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

What is hyperprosexia?

We give the name hyperprosexia to the condition characterized by the presence of excessive focusing of attention on stimuli in the environment It is a quantitative alteration of attention, specifically an exacerbation of it. It involves 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 the disorders or alterations of attention, 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 positive thing, in reality hyperprosexia usually involves a high level of distractibility due to difficulty maintaining attention or diverting it from a specific stimulus.

hyperprosexia can negatively affect the adaptation to the environment of those who suffer from it: It is difficult to learn in school, or to be productive in a company. It can also be problematic at the level of personal interaction, and can even be a danger 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 the inability to direct the attention focus towards what is important because there are other stimuli that are too distracting and do not allow the person focuses.

Guys

There are two main 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 a point, since in reality the person only directs attention superficially towards the different stimuli before the rest of them demand their attention. This alteration represents an exacerbation of attentional mobility. In other words, it focuses on everything but does not focus on anything, so the subject actually has a high level of distractibility or attentional instability.

The second of the great options implies that the exacerbation lies in the fixation capacity: in this case the person concentrates extremely and persistently on one 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 them.

Thus, in practice, excess attention has the paradoxical effect that we cannot concentrate on what is relevant, a fact that serves to question whether there is really excess or lack of attentional capacity. We must not forget that the criterion of whether we pay enough attention or not depends on our ideas and beliefs about what is important and appropriate in each case; That is to say, it is something debatable. Hyperprosexia is further proof that psychological alterations are always analyzed through social conventions and consensual ideas about what is good and what is bad.

Disorders associated with this alteration of attention

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

Among the different conditions in which it can arise, we can find substance intoxication or consumption 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 disorders, such as schizophrenia.

Treatment

Treatment of hyperprosexia It is usually linked to the disorder that 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, euthymizers in the case of manic episodes or antipsychotics in the case of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders. The use of benzodiazepines or other anxiolytics may be useful. In any case, the use of these medications should only be done through a medical prescription.