Distraction : Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment

• General Characteristics
• Reasons For Absent-Mindedness
• Physiological Distraction
• Psychological Factors Of Absent-Mindedness
• Distraction As A Symptom Of Illness
• Survey
• Treatment
• Psychocorrective Classes
• Biofeedback Training
• Medical Therapy
• Organization Of Time, Space

Absent -mindedness is an organic or functional decrease in the ability to perform concentrated, purposeful activities. In a narrow sense, absent-mindedness is understood as a violation of concentration. It manifests itself as forgetfulness, inattention, lack of concentration. It can be a character trait, a symptom of an illness, or a temporary state of fatigue. Diagnosis of absent-mindedness is carried out by methods of pathopsychology: samples are used to study the attentive-mnestic sphere, working capacity. In the context of symptomatic treatment, psychocorrection, BFB trainings are carried out, medications (nootropics, antidepressants) are prescribed.

general characteristics

The basis of absent-mindedness is a violation of the ability to concentrate on certain actions or objects. Normally, attention provides direction and concentration of mental activity. These properties are understood as a person's ability to delve into activity, to distract from extraneous signals. The opposite of the state of concentration is absent-mindedness - the inability to maintain concentration on the chosen object: on the topic of conversation, physical or mental work.

According to the mechanism of attention disorder, several types of absent-mindedness are distinguished. The true one can be felt as drowsiness or dullness, manifested by unclear and vague perception, a decrease in intellectual functions, aimless fixation of the gaze into the void. Imaginary absent-mindedness occurs with intense concentration on one object, the impossibility of distributing attention to others. For example, a scientist who is constantly thinking about a new theory looks absent-minded.

The student form of absent-mindedness is due to excessive switchability and mobility of thought processes. Such a disorder is typical for children; it is not associated with a lack of concentration, but with the inability to maintain it for a long time. The causes of senile forgetfulness are poor switching, insufficient concentration. Therefore, in a conversation, older people sometimes “get stuck” on one topic: they do not develop it, they talk about insignificant details for a long time, they cannot quickly start a conversation about another.

Directed, selective and motivationally conditioned inattention are considered as types of absent-mindedness. When a person deliberately ignores certain thoughts, memories, sensations, we are talking about directed inattention. For example, a woman who has recently gone through a divorce may seem distracted when discussing the reason for the separation. Habitual inattention - ignoring the daily repetitive signals: ticking clocks, barking dogs, snoring. The concept of motivationally conditioned inattention was introduced by Z. Freud. It implies forgetfulness when visiting certain places, meeting certain people by chance.

Reasons for absent-mindedness

Subjectively, absent-mindedness is experienced as a state of vagueness and vagueness of consciousness, insufficient mobility of the thought process, inexplicable forgetfulness. The emotional-volitional component is represented by instability of interest, indifference, lack of effort, passivity. The causes of absent-mindedness are varied - a state of fatigue, monotony, physical malaise, some diseases.

Physiological distraction

Most people are absent-minded not all the time, but only at a certain time - after an illness, by the end of the working day, while experiencing adverse life events. Their forgetfulness, lack of concentration are due to physiological factors, which are based on the depletion of the body's resources, natural fluctuations in the hormonal background. Restoration of the former attentiveness and working capacity occurs immediately after the elimination of the cause. The physiological basis of absent-mindedness can be:

• Lack of sleep. Sleep deprivation due to insomnia or external causes is the most common cause of inattention. Sleep deficiency negatively affects the work of the brain, provokes a slowdown in all processes - attention, memory, thinking, emotional-volitional acts. A sleepy person is distracted, lethargic, performs his usual activities worse.
• Fatigue. Activity, purposefulness of intellectual activity naturally decreases after a period of stress. Fatigue is essentially exhaustion. Absent-mindedness, forgetfulness appear as a result of long work without breaks for rest.
• monotonous work. Monotony is a negative mental state, the cause of which is the monotonous activity and the lack of breaks for rest. It is characterized by a decrease in the speed of mental processes, a deterioration in the ability to switch attention. Develops long before true fatigue.
• Pregnancy, menopause. The periods of bearing a child and menopause are accompanied by hormonal imbalance. Excess or lack of hormones leads to changes in the functioning of the brain. This is reflected in the emotional sphere, performance: women become impressionable, irritable, forgetful.
• period after illness. Severe diseases deplete the body, take a person out of the usual social environment. Therefore, after an acute period, it takes some time to recuperate, adapt to the normal daily routine and stress. Distractedness and forgetfulness usually resolve within 1-2 weeks, a return to the previous level of activity indicates a complete recovery.
• Intoxication. The state of intoxication (intoxication) develops as a result of taking alcohol, drugs. The psychoactive effect of substances is manifested by absent-mindedness, slow reaction, impaired coordination of movements. A slight decrease in concentration, combined with an elevated mood, is observed at the initial stage of intoxication. As intoxication increases, speech disorders are formed, orientation in space is lost.

Psychological factors of absent-mindedness

Sometimes absent-mindedness is the result of a person's attitude to the activity performed, the surrounding objects. In interesting, personally important situations, people become collected, in insignificant, unpleasant - on the contrary. The inability to concentrate and hold attention is associated with emotional and volitional qualities, personal hobbies and preferences, and general rules for the functioning of the psyche. Common psychological causes of absent-mindedness:

• Passion for one object. The condition is typical for people who are strongly passionate about some object - another person, scientific developments, an interesting hobby. Their attention is narrowed, not distributed to other situations and people, therefore, when trying to distract, confusion arises. Examples of such people are scientists engaged in new research, artists in periods of creative upsurge.
• Intense distractions. Concentration and stability are functions of voluntary attention. When there are many extraneous intense stimuli in a situation - noise, bright lights, voices - an involuntary switch occurs. Attention becomes scattered between many objects. Therefore, for example, it is difficult for many to read a book while traveling by public transport.
• Limited RAM. According to experimental psychological studies, people are able to simultaneously hold in their minds from 5 to 9 objects (the exact number is individual). When there is more information, forgetfulness sets in, because the least significant stimuli cease to attract attention.
• Reluctance to perform activities. The condition is noted when performing tasks that are perceived as uninteresting, seem meaningless, or cause personal dislike. In such cases, a person has to make great volitional efforts to organize his own purposeful activity.
• Character features. Sometimes there is no particular reason for forgetfulness and lack of concentration, these qualities are part of the character. People are described as dreamy, idiosyncratic, creative, sometimes infantile. Often this is based on a lack of need or experience of purposeful organized activity.

Distraction as a symptom of illness

Distraction is not a specific manifestation of any one disease. With disorders of the neurotic type, it is largely due to a change in the emotional-volitional and motivational component: it is difficult for patients to concentrate due to depression, lack of interest in what is happening or focus on a personal problem. In patients with neurological pathologies, there is a decrease in all cognitive functions: memory, intelligence, thinking, attention. The most common causes of distraction:

• neurotic disorders. In people with depression, all cognitive processes are inhibited, there is no involvement in surrounding events, the motivation for activity is reduced, so they look forgetful, uncollected. In anxiety disorders, patients are overly concentrated on the thoughts that disturb them, unable to focus on something else. In everyday affairs they show confusion, often make mistakes, slowly get involved in new activities.
• Schizophrenia. With this disease, biochemical changes occur in the brain, which are manifested by a change in emotions, personal qualities, and intellectual processes. The reasons for the absent-mindedness of patients in the initial stages of the disease are a decrease in the need for communication, a craving for loneliness. Patients stay in their fantasies and thoughts for a long time, and when communicating with others, they become confused. With a long course of the schizophrenic process, a neurocognitive deficit occurs, absent-mindedness increases against the background of a general decrease in intellectual abilities.
• Organic brain damage. This group includes a large number of pathologies that occur with degenerative changes in the nervous tissue, disruption of neurons, and death of nerve cells. Examples: traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, vascular pathology, brain tumors. Patients are characterized by difficulties in switching from object to object, decreased performance, increased distractibility to secondary insignificant stimuli, and forgetfulness. For this reason, people of the elderly and senile age are often absent-minded.
• Endocrine diseases. The emotional state changes with violations of the functions of the hypothalamic-pituitary system, ovaries, adrenal glands, thyroid gland. Characterized by increased irritability and tearfulness, the appearance of depression, fatigue. The reasons for absent-mindedness are an excess or lack of hormones that affect the areas of the brain that are responsible for emotions, self-control, and cognitive processes.
• Drug withdrawal syndrome. Abrupt discontinuation of certain drugs is accompanied by the development of a withdrawal syndrome - the body's response to a lack of previously received compounds with the resumption of symptoms of the disease. Distractedness becomes stronger after a sharp cessation of therapy with nootropics, sedatives. Other manifestations are headache, dizziness, lethargy, insomnia. To prevent this condition, drugs should be discontinued gradually.
• Nicotine withdrawal syndrome. After quitting smoking during the first 2-5 days there is a sharp drop in blood sugar levels. This process is accompanied by various ailments, the most common of which are distraction, forgetfulness, and dizziness. Poor health is often the reason for a return to smoking.

Survey

Identification of attention disorders is carried out in the diagnosis of mental pathologies and neurological diseases, as well as in the framework of medical and psychological examination when applying for certain types of work. The examination is carried out by psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychotherapists. The results allow you to diagnose absent-mindedness, to determine what caused forgetfulness. The main research methods are:

• Conversation. Signs of absent-mindedness are found during the initial questioning of the patient: he hardly keeps the topic of conversation, asks again, is often distracted by a problem that worries him (physical pain, a traumatic event, neurotic experiences). In severe cases, obtaining the necessary clinical information during the interview is possible only with the organizing assistance of a doctor, that is, with a special holding of the patient's attention in a loud voice, strict intonation, and frequent address by name.
• observation. The behavior of patients is characterized by reduced purposefulness. They are often distracted for no reason by external secondary signals - steps outside the door, noise outside the window, other people's conversations. They can look for glasses in a bag for a long time, they forget to take the medical documents necessary for the doctor. If they come to an appointment unaccompanied by a relative, they wander in search of the right office.
• Attention tests. Quantitative assessment of the activity of attention is carried out with the help of special pathopsychological tests. Common methods: finding numbers using Schulte tables, proofreading, forward / backward counting. Based on the results, the rate of sensorimotor reactions, the switchability of mental processes, fluctuations in working capacity, and fatigue are determined. Absent-mindedness is evidenced by a decrease in the concentration and persistence of attention functions.

To determine the cause of the state of distraction in patients with symptoms of neurotic or other mental disorders, a comprehensive study of the cognitive sphere, emotional and personal characteristics is carried out. If the patient's complaints indicate the presence of an endocrine or neurological disease, he is referred for a consultation with the appropriate specialists.

Treatment

With physiological absent-mindedness, medical intervention is not required, measures are needed that can restore working capacity - good sleep, alternating work with rest, reducing stress during pregnancy and rehabilitation after a serious illness. If distractibility and forgetfulness are associated with psychological causes, mental or somatic diseases, along with the main treatment, special therapy is necessary. Psycho-corrective methods, biofeedback training, drug therapy are used.

Psychocorrection is aimed at increasing the concentration of attention

Psychocorrective classes

Classes with a psychologist are aimed at developing the arbitrariness of the mental sphere. Exercises are used that require concentration, the ability to switch from one object to another, to keep several conditions or tasks at once. With pronounced absent-mindedness, a consistent retelling of the events of the past day is practiced, the search for surrounding objects with a common feature (for example, color). For moderate and mild violations, training takes place using Schulte tables, black and red numerical tables, and a correction test.

biofeedback training

Hardware biofeedback autotraining is a method of teaching self-regulation of mental and physiological functions, during which a special computer program is used. To increase the functions of attention, EEG-BFB is effective, which fixes the bioelectrical activity of the brain. The patient is able to control the quality of the picture on the monitor, the soundtrack, the activity of the characters in the game, making an effort of will to maintain active attention. As distraction increases, the quality of the feedback decreases.

Medical therapy

With absent-mindedness based on emotional disturbance, patients may be prescribed medication (antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs). The elimination of symptoms of depression, anxiety, fear is often accompanied by the restoration of working capacity and the skill of concentration, the disappearance of forgetfulness. The use of nootropics may be effective in organic brain lesions. Medicines of this group improve the nutrition of nerve tissues, increase the flow of oxygen to the brain, due to which the simulation of mental activity occurs, concentration and memory improve.

Organization of time, space

Combating absent-mindedness helps drawing up a plan for the day or any activity. It is worth considering the main tasks, how to accomplish them, the amount of time for work and rest. It is important that intellectual loads alternate with physical ones. Performing the task, you need to make an effort and concentrate on the main activity. To do this, it is recommended to properly prepare the workplace - remove all unnecessary items, such as telephones, magazines, decorative elements of the interior, that is, eliminate all potential causes of distraction in advance.