#HYPERFOCUS EXAMPLES HOW TO#

Whether technically sensory or sensorimotor in nature, such obsessions share one common precursor: selective attention. Sensorimotor obsessions as defined here involve either a focus on automatic bodily processes or discrete physical sensations.

Colloquially termed “obsessive swallowing,” “obsessive blinking,” or “conscious breathing,” these problems fall within a class of complaints that may be aptly described as “sensorimotor obsessions”. One such neglected subgroup of sufferers report distressing preoccupations with bodily processes or bodily sensations. Their OCD is somehow different: it simply does not conform to these popular descriptions. Yet for some individuals suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, there is little hope of “finding themselves” in the pages of this popular literature. Likewise, descriptions of intrusive sexual or violent imagery urges to touch, tap, or even-up objects and concerns about good & bad and right & wrong, populate the pages of scientific and self-help books and articles on OCD. The literature on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) routinely includes detailed accounts of washing, checking, repeating, and undoing behaviors associated with fears of harm to oneself or others. Comments regarding this article may be directed to article was initially published in the Fall 2011 edition of the OCD Newsletter. He is a specialist in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder and related conditions and has been in private practice for well over a decade. Keuler is a senior clinician at The Behavior Therapy Center of Greater Washington.

#HYPERFOCUS EXAMPLES HOW TO#

When Automatic Bodily Processes Become Conscious: How to Disengage from “Sensorimotor Obsessions”ĭr.

Hyperfocus examples