Why inattention? How to deal with absent-mindedness

People often wonder whether the disorder is acquired or congenital. In fact, this disease is acquired and develops throughout the human life cycle. The symptom of absent-mindedness can manifest itself as various reasons.

Types of absent-mindedness

1) Absent-mindedness arises due to severe fatigue, lack of sleep and insomnia, and can also occur with pain in the head when a person performs monotonous work.

2) Absent-mindedness manifests itself as a result of an organic mental disorder of the brain. These include anxiety disorders, memory disorders and depressive states. Due to these disorders, a person experiences difficulty concentrating.

Causes of absent-mindedness

The main cause of absent-mindedness is considered to be a lack of attention to things and actions performed every day. A person performs most actions on autopilot, thinking at that moment about completely different things. As a result, there is a chance that he will make a mistake, not pay attention to something, or simply forget.

How to deal with absent-mindedness?

Before performing any task, think about your every action and do not direct your attention to extraneous things. Try not to do things automatically. Naturally, this is not easy, but over time you will get used to it and your composure will increase significantly. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. If you encounter any small problem, solve it without delay. Take breaks from work. During a break, think about your next steps. Your brain needs to rest and switch between activities. Eliminate all distractions. Don't clutter yours workplace unnecessary things. If you are distracted from work, make a note to yourself so that you don’t forget to finish what you started. Don't multitask. Start the next task only after completing the previous one.

Memory disorders: why memory becomes poor, normal and connection with diseases, treatment

Memory - important function our central nervous system perceive the information received and store it in some invisible “cells” of the brain in reserve, in order to retrieve and use it in the future. Memory is one of the most important abilities mental activity a person, therefore the slightest memory impairment weighs on him, he is knocked out of the usual rhythm of life, suffering himself and irritating those around him.

Memory impairment is most often perceived as one of many clinical manifestations of some kind of neuropsychiatric or neurological pathology, although in other cases forgetfulness, absent-mindedness and bad memory are the only signs of a disease, the development of which no one pays attention to, believing that a person is like this by nature.

The big mystery is human memory

Memory - difficult process, which occurs in the central nervous system and involves the perception, accumulation, retention and reproduction of what is received in different periods information time. We think most about the properties of our memory when we need to learn something new. The result of all efforts made during the learning process depends on how someone manages to catch, hold, and perceive what they see, hear or read, which is important when choosing a profession. From a biological point of view, memory can be short-term and long-term.

Information received in passing or, as they say, “it went into one ear and out of the other” is short-term memory, in which what is seen and heard is postponed for several minutes, but, as a rule, without meaning or content. So, the episode flashed and disappeared. Short-term memory does not promise anything in advance, which is probably good, because otherwise a person would have to store all the information that he does not need at all.

However, with certain efforts by a person, information that has fallen into the zone of short-term memory, if you hold your gaze on it or listen and delve into it, will go into long-term storage. This also happens against a person’s will if certain episodes are often repeated, have special emotional significance, or for various reasons occupy a separate place among other phenomena.

When assessing their memory, some people claim that their memory is short-term, because everything is remembered, assimilated, retold in a couple of days, and then just as quickly forgotten. This often happens when preparing for exams, when information is put aside only for the purpose of reproducing it to decorate the grade book. It should be noted that in such cases, turning again to this topic when it becomes interesting, a person can easily restore seemingly lost knowledge. It’s one thing to know and forget, and another thing to not receive information. But here everything is simple - acquired knowledge without special effort humans were transformed into long-term memory departments.

Long-term memory analyzes everything, structures it, creates volume and purposefully stores it for future use indefinitely. Everything is stored in long-term memory. Memorization mechanisms are very complex, but we are so accustomed to them that we perceive them as natural and simple things. However, we note that for the successful implementation of the learning process, in addition to memory, it is important to have attention, that is, to be able to concentrate on the necessary objects.

It is common for a person to forget past events after some time if he does not periodically retrieve his knowledge in order to use it, so the inability to remember something should not always be attributed to a memory impairment. Each of us has experienced the feeling when “it’s spinning in your head, but doesn’t come to mind,” but this does not mean that serious disturbances have occurred in memory.

Why do memory lapses happen?

The causes of memory and attention impairment in adults and children may be different. If a child with congenital mental retardation immediately develops learning problems, then adult state he will already come with these disorders. Children and adults can react differently to the environment: the child’s psyche is more delicate, so it endures stress more difficult. In addition, adults have long learned what a child is still trying to master.

It’s sad, but the trend towards using alcoholic drinks And narcotic drugs teenagers, and even small children left without parental supervision, has become frightening: not so rarely recorded in reports of law enforcement agencies and medical institutions cases of poisoning. But for a child’s brain, alcohol is a powerful poison that has an extremely negative effect on memory.

True, some pathological conditions that are often the cause of absent-mindedness and poor memory in adults are usually excluded in children (Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, osteochondrosis).

Causes of memory impairment in children

Thus, the causes of memory and attention impairment in children can be considered:

• Lack of vitamins;
• Asthenia;
• Frequent viral infections;
• Traumatic brain injuries;
• Stressful situations (dysfunctional family, despotism of parents, problems in the team that the child attends);
• Poor eyesight;
• Mental disorder;
• Poisoning, alcohol and drug use;
• Congenital pathology in which mental retardation is programmed (Down syndrome, etc.) or other (any) conditions (lack of vitamins or microelements, the use of certain medications, changes not in better side metabolic processes), contributing to the formation of attention deficit disorder, which, as is known, does not improve memory.

Causes of problems in adults

In adults, the reason that memory has become poor, absent-mindedness and the inability to concentrate for a long time are various diseases acquired during life:

1. Stress, psycho-emotional stress, chronic fatigue both soul and body;
2. Acute and chronic;
3. Discirculatory;
4. cervical spine spine;
5. Traumatic brain injuries;
6. Metabolic disorders;
7. Hormonal imbalance;
8. GM tumors;
9. Mental disorders (depression, schizophrenia and many others).

Of course, anemia of different origins, lack of microelements, diabetes and other numerous somatic pathologies lead to impaired memory and attention, contribute to the appearance of forgetfulness and absent-mindedness.

What types of memory disorders are there? Among them are dysmnesia(hypermnesia, hypomnesia, amnesia) – changes in memory itself, and paramnesia– distortion of memories, to which are added the patient’s personal fantasies. By the way, those around them, on the contrary, consider some of them to be a phenomenal memory rather than a violation of it. True, experts may have a slightly different opinion on this matter.

Dysmnesia

Phenomenal memory or mental disorder?

Hypermnesia– with such a violation, people remember and perceive quickly, information put aside many years ago pops up in memory for no reason, “rolls up”, returns to the past, which does not always evoke positive emotions. A person himself does not know why he needs to store everything in his head, but he can reproduce some long-past events down to the smallest detail. For example, old man he can easily describe in detail (down to the teacher’s clothes) individual lessons at school, retell the literary montage of the pioneer gathering; it is not difficult for him to remember other details regarding his studies at the institute, professional activities or family events.

Hypermnesia, present in healthy person in the absence of other clinical manifestations, it is not considered a disease; rather, on the contrary, this is exactly the case when they talk about phenomenal memory, although from the point of view of psychology, phenomenal memory is a slightly different phenomenon. People who have a similar phenomenon are able to remember and reproduce huge amounts of information that is not associated with any special meaning. These can be large numbers, sets of individual words, lists of objects, notes. Great writers, musicians, mathematicians and people in other professions that require genius abilities often have such a memory. Meanwhile, hypermnesia in a healthy person who does not belong to the cohort of geniuses, but has a high intelligence quotient (IQ), is not such a rare occurrence.

As one of the symptoms of pathological conditions, memory impairment in the form of hypermnesia occurs:

• For paroxysmal mental disorders (epilepsy);
• In case of intoxication with psychoactive substances ( psychotropic drugs, narcotic drugs);
• In the case of hypomania - a condition similar to mania, but not reaching it in severity. Patients may experience increased energy, increased vitality, and increased ability to work. With hypomania, memory and attention impairments are often combined (disinhibition, instability, inability to concentrate).

Obviously, only a specialist can understand such subtleties and differentiate between normal and pathological conditions. The majority of us are average representatives of the human population, to whom “nothing human is alien,” but at the same time they do not change the world. Periodically (not every year and not every locality) geniuses appear, they are not always immediately noticeable, because often such individuals are considered simply eccentrics. And finally (maybe not often?) among various pathological conditions there are mental illness requiring correction and complex treatment.

Bad memory

Hypomnesia– this type is usually expressed in two words: “poor memory.”

Forgetfulness, absent-mindedness and poor memory are observed in asthenic syndrome, which, in addition to memory problems, is characterized by other symptoms:

1. Increased fatigue.
2. Nervousness, irritability with or without cause, Bad mood.
3. Meteor dependence.
4. during the day and insomnia at night.
5. Changes in blood pressure.
6. Tides and others.
7. , weakness.

Asthenic syndrome, as a rule, is formed by another pathology, for example:

• Arterial hypertension.
• Previous traumatic brain injury (TBI).
• Atherosclerotic process.
• The initial stage of schizophrenia.

The cause of memory and attention impairments of the hypomnesia type can be various depressive states (there are too many to count), menopausal syndrome occurring with adaptation disorder, organic lesions brain (severe head injury, epilepsy, tumors). In such situations, as a rule, in addition to hypomnesia, the symptoms listed above are also present.

“I remember here, I don’t remember here”

At amnesia It is not the entire memory that is lost, but its individual fragments. As an example of this type of amnesia, I would like to recall Alexander Sery’s film “Gentlemen of Fortune” - “I remember here, I don’t remember here.”

However, not all amnesia looks like in the famous movie; there are more serious cases when memory is lost significantly and for a long time or forever, therefore among such memory disorders (amnesia) there are several types:

A special type of memory loss that cannot be controlled is progressive amnesia, representing a sequential loss of memory from the present to the past. The cause of memory destruction in such cases is organic atrophy of the brain, which occurs when Alzheimer's disease And . Such patients poorly reproduce traces of memory (speech disorders), for example, they forget the names of household objects that they use every day (a plate, a chair, a clock), but at the same time they know what they are intended for (amnestic aphasia). In other cases, the patient simply does not recognize the thing (sensory aphasia) or does not know what it is for (semantic aphasia). However, one should not confuse the habits of “zealous” owners to find a use for everything that is in the house, even if it is intended for completely different purposes (from an old kitchen clock in the form of a plate, you can make a beautiful dish or stand).

You have to invent something like this!

Paramnesia (memory distortion) are also classified as memory disorders, and among them the following types are distinguished:

• Confabulation, in which fragments of one’s own memory disappear, and their place is taken by stories invented by the patient and presented to him “in all seriousness,” since he himself believes in what he is talking about. Patients talk about their exploits, unprecedented achievements in life and work, and even sometimes about crimes.
• Pseudo-reminiscence- replacement of one memory with another event that actually took place in the patient’s life, only at a completely different time and under different circumstances (Korsakov’s syndrome).
• Cryptomnesia when patients, having received information from various sources (books, movies, stories of other people), pass it off as events they themselves experienced. In a word, sick people pathological changes They resort to involuntary plagiarism, which is characteristic of delusional ideas found in organic disorders.
• Echomnesia- a person feels (quite sincerely) that this event has already happened to him (or saw it in a dream?). Of course, similar thoughts sometimes visit a healthy person, but the difference is that patients attach special significance to such phenomena (“get hung up”), while healthy people simply quickly forget about it.
• Polympsest– this symptom exists in two variants: short-term memory loss associated with pathological alcohol intoxication(episodes are confused last day with long-past events), and the combination of two different events of the same period of time, in the end, the patient himself does not know what really happened.

As a rule, these symptoms in pathological conditions are accompanied by others clinical manifestations, therefore, if you notice signs of “déjà vu”, there is no need to rush to make a diagnosis - this also happens in healthy people.

Decreased concentration affects memory

Impaired memory and attention, loss of the ability to focus on specific objects include the following pathological conditions:

1. Attention instability– a person is constantly distracted, jumps from one object to another (disinhibition syndrome in children, hypomania, hebephrenia - a mental disorder that develops as a form of schizophrenia in adolescence);
2. Rigidity (slow switching) from one topic to another - this symptom is very characteristic of epilepsy (those who communicate with such people know that the patient is constantly “stuck”, which makes it difficult to conduct a dialogue);
3. Lack of concentration- they say about such people: “That absent-minded person from Basseynaya Street!” That is, absent-mindedness and poor memory in such cases are often perceived as features of temperament and behavior, which, in principle, often corresponds to reality.

Undoubtedly a decrease in concentration, in particular, will negatively affect the entire process of memorizing and storing information, that is, on the state of memory as a whole.

Children forget faster

As for children, all these gross, permanent memory impairments, characteristic of adults and especially the elderly, are very rarely noted in childhood. Memory problems that arise due to congenital characteristics require correction and, with a skillful approach (as far as possible), may recede a little. There are many cases where the efforts of parents and teachers in literally worked wonders for Down syndrome and other types of congenital mental retardation, but here the approach is individual and dependent on various circumstances.

It’s another matter if the baby was born healthy, and the problems appeared as a result of the troubles suffered. So here it is You can expect a child to have a slightly different reaction to different situations:

• Amnesia in children in most cases, it manifests itself as memory lapses in relation to individual memories of episodes that took place during the period of clouding of consciousness associated with unpleasant events (poisoning, coma, trauma) - it is not for nothing that they say that children quickly forget;
• Alcoholization adolescence also does not proceed the same way as in adults - lack of memories ( polympsests) to events occurring during intoxication, appears already in the first stages of drunkenness, without waiting for a diagnosis (alcoholism);
• Retrograde amnesia in children, as a rule, it affects a short period of time before injury or illness, and its severity is not as distinct as in adults, that is, memory loss in a child cannot always be noticed.

Most often, children and adolescents experience memory impairment of the dysmnesia type, which is manifested by a weakening of the ability to remember, store (retention) and reproduce (reproduction) received information. This type of disorder is more noticeable in children school age, since they affect school performance, adaptation in the team and behavior in Everyday life.

For children attending nurseries preschool institutions, symptoms of dysmnesia are problems with memorizing rhymes and songs, children cannot participate in children's matinees and holidays. Despite the fact that the child constantly attends kindergarten, every time he comes there, he cannot independently find his locker to change clothes; among other items (toys, clothes, a towel), he has difficulty finding his own. Dysmnestic disorders are also noticeable in the home environment: the child cannot tell what happened in the garden, forgets the names of other children, each time he perceives fairy tales read many times as if he was hearing them for the first time, does not remember the names of the main characters.

Transient disturbances of memory and attention, along with fatigue, drowsiness and all sorts of autonomic disorders, are often observed in schoolchildren with various etiologies.

Before treatment

Before you begin to treat the symptoms of memory impairment, you need to make a correct diagnosis and find out what is causing the patient's problems. To do this, you need to get more information about his health:

1. What diseases does he suffer from? It may be possible to trace the connection between the existing pathology (or suffered in the past) with the deterioration intellectual abilities;
2. Does he have a pathology that directly leads to memory impairment: dementia, cerebral vascular insufficiency, TBI (history), chronic alcoholism, drug violations?
3. What medications is the patient taking and is memory impairment associated with the use of medications? Certain groups of pharmaceuticals, for example, benzodiazepines including side effects have similar disorders, which, however, are reversible.

In addition, during the diagnostic search, it can be very useful to identify metabolic disorders, hormonal imbalance, deficiency of microelements and vitamins.

In most cases, when searching for the causes of memory loss, they resort to methods neuroimaging(CT, MRI, EEG, PET, etc.), which help to detect a brain tumor or hydrocephalus and, at the same time, differentiate vascular brain damage from degenerative one.

There is a need for neuroimaging methods also because memory impairment at first may be the only symptom of a serious pathology. Unfortunately, the greatest difficulties in diagnosis are presented by depressive conditions, which in other cases force one to prescribe a trial antidepressant treatment (to find out whether there is depression or not).

Treatment and correction

The normal aging process itself involves some decline in intellectual abilities: forgetfulness appears, memorization is not so easy, concentration of attention decreases, especially if the neck is “pinched” or the blood pressure rises, but such symptoms do not significantly affect the quality of life and behavior at home. Older people who adequately assess their age learn to remind themselves (and quickly remember) about current affairs.

In addition, many people do not neglect treatment with pharmaceuticals to improve memory.

There are now a number of drugs that can improve brain function and even help with tasks that require significant intellectual effort. First of all, this is (piracetam, fezam, vinpocetine, cerebrolysin, cinnarizine, etc.).

Nootropics are indicated for older people who have certain age-related problems that are not yet noticeable to others. Drugs in this group are suitable for improving memory in case of impaired cerebral circulation caused by other pathological conditions of the brain and vascular system. By the way, many of these drugs are successfully used in pediatric practice.

However, nootropics are a symptomatic treatment, and to get the desired effect you need to strive for etiotropic treatment.

As for Alzheimer's disease, tumors, and mental disorders, the approach to treatment should be very specific - depending on the pathological changes and the reasons that led to them. There is no single recipe for all cases, so there is nothing to advise patients. You just need to contact a doctor, who, perhaps, before prescribing drugs to improve memory, will send you for additional examination.

Correction of mental disorders is also difficult in adults. Patients with poor memory, under the supervision of an instructor, memorize poems, solve crossword puzzles, and practice solving logical problems, however, training, while bringing some success (the severity of mnestic disorders seems to have decreased), is still especially significant results do not give.

Correction of memory and attention in children, in addition to treatment with various groups of pharmaceutical drugs, includes classes with a psychologist, exercises for memory development (poems, drawings, tasks). Of course, the child’s psyche is more mobile and better amenable to correction, unlike the adult psyche. Children have the prospect of progressive development, while older people only experience the opposite effect.

Video: bad memory - expert opinion

Do you know the feeling when you can't remember what you did a minute ago? Have you ever been told that you have your head in the clouds? An absent-minded person is trusted less than a collected person. Absent-mindedness can be a barrier to achieving goals. But it can be resisted. And then you will become more successful, you will be able to spend less time solving problems, you will become more efficient and productive.

What is absent-mindedness, what are its causes and how to deal with it, you will learn from this article.

Let's consider several types of absent-mindedness:

True inattention

A condition that can be called prostration. You can't concentrate on one thing, your mind wanders, and you don't seem to be fully aware of what's going on around you. You abstract yourself from external environment. You lose interest in what is happening around you, and you practically do not record chaotically arising thoughts. Your attention is scattered and you cannot cope with the task.

The phenomenon of road hypnosis

Have you ever lost track of time on the road? When it seems to you that it took about half an hour, but in fact about two have passed? This is a kind of “time gap”, and it occurs not only while driving in a car. Everyone knows that when a person is busy with something, time passes faster for him, and when he has nothing to do, minutes seem like hours. A similar “time gap” effect can be caused by any monotonous and monotonous work.

Imaginary absent-mindedness

Absent-mindedness caused by the inability to concentrate attention on all objects at once. The negative consequence of excessive concentration on one thing to the detriment of the rest. You've probably met people thinking about an idea or trying to solve a problem. important issue and not noticing anything around them. This is why creative people are called absent-minded. They often hatch some plans or completely withdraw into their own world, losing attention to the real world. When our thoughts are completely absorbed in one thing, we lose sight of the rest and become distracted.

Motivational-based inattention

This type of absent-mindedness was described by Sigmund Freud in his book “The Psychopathology of Everyday Life”, as well as in some of his other works. Absent-mindedness consists in the fact that a person specifically (albeit not always consciously) avoids any objects or any action, which is why he seems absent-minded.

Causes of absent-mindedness and ways to get rid of it:

Reluctance to concentrate. It would be best to quote here an excerpt from Freud’s book “Introduction to Psychoanalysis”:

“We noted that forgetting, that is, failure to fulfill an intention, indicates an opposite will, hostile to this intention. This position remains in force, but the opposite will, as our research shows, can be of two types - direct and indirect. What we mean by the latter can best be shown by some examples. When a patron forgets to put in a good word for his protégé, it may be because he is not very interested in his protégé and does not have much desire to ask for him. It is in this sense that the protégé understands the forgetfulness of the patron. But the situation can be more complicated. The will that is opposite to the fulfillment of the intention may appear in the patron for another reason and manifest its effect in a completely different place. It may have nothing to do with the protégé, but be directed against a third party who needs to be asked ... "

We forget to do something when we don’t want to do it for one reason or another. Sometimes these reasons may not be realized by us and only indirectly relate to the action. You've probably experienced this. Remember how you forgot to do something that you didn’t want to do in the first place. To avoid such absent-mindedness and remember to complete errands, train yourself to record everything that you have to do. It would be best to buy a small notepad and pen and carry them with you. In addition to the fact that you will not forget to do something and become more responsible and efficient, you will always be able to write down an unexpected idea. Because if a thought is not recorded on paper, then consider that it did not exist.

Also, remember Brian Tracy's rule and start the day with the most unpleasant activity. You are still full of strength and not so stressed, which means you will cope better, and it will require less effort. And if you eat a frog in the morning, the day promises to be wonderful. Nothing worse can happen.

Monotone. It causes the phenomenon of road hypnosis. If you are limited in time (for example, you have a meeting in 2 hours, and you would not like to read a new book and be late), then you can simply set an alarm clock, and then you will definitely not be called absent-minded or unpunctual.

Limited working memory of the brain. The brain's working memory is limited. Scientists say that you can hold no more than seven pieces of information in your head at the same time.

Let's give an example:

You go to the kitchen to put the kettle on. Your gaze falls on the table, and you think about the fact that you need to remember to buy a new tablecloth. Your boss calls you (the phone was in your hands) and says that you need to change the color of the interface of your company’s website from blue to red, add contacts for feedback at the bottom of the page and add a “Media about us” section to the site menu. You are diligently trying to remember all the wishes of your boss, so that you can then start working on them. Then a friend calls, tells you that he saw Brad Pitt on the subway and invites you to go to the concert of your favorite band on Saturday. You don’t believe him, of course, but you remember the story and try not to forget about the concert. Then you stumble over the refrigerator and think that it’s time to replace it with a new one. So, wait, why did you even come to the kitchen? Tablecloth, interface color, contacts, new section, Brad Pitt, concert, refrigerator - seven pieces of information. There was simply no room left for a kettle. I'm sure you're familiar similar situation and you often encounter something similar. This is fine.

The volume of RAM in the brain does not change and is always seven plus or minus two (for different types information).

The solution to this problem is obvious: don't overload RAM. Don't multitask. The following describes ways to get rid of multitasking. Perceive new information after the previous one has already been assimilated into long-term memory to avoid its repression.

You can also do the following trick to artificially increase working memory:

1. Read.
2. Select locations according to semantic blocks and write down information on them. If we take the example above, this is a store (you can buy a tablecloth and a refrigerator there), your workplace (to remember your boss’s instructions for work), your friend (imagine how he holds tickets to a concert and Brad Pitt has his hand on his shoulder). There is still room for a kettle and something else.

Now you know what types of absent-mindedness exist and what causes them. Forewarned is forearmed. If you start applying the recommendations from the article, you will become less absent-minded, and therefore more effective and productive. Your work will be easier and you will be able to cope with more tasks. Stop being distracted and become the best version myself. Good luck!

Inattention, attention deficit disorder (ADHD): causes, symptoms, treatment

Distraction or inattention in everyday life it is even difficult to call it a symptom, since more often it is simply a person’s condition due to fatigue or life’s troubles. When “everything is somehow piling up”, it is difficult to have a clear, bright head, quickly switch from one job to another and keep up with everything, so there can be absent-mindedness that is justified and explainable, and inattention that arouses suspicion.

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), which we hear about more often from teachers and child psychologists than from pediatricians, concerns mainly children of primary school age with learning problems. Along with ADD, the concept of “hyperactivity” is often used. In such cases, it is customary to talk about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the essence of which will be covered below, in one of the sections of the article.

Age, fatigue or “always like this”

Absent-mindedness - discord. But more often than not, we perceive it as one of the features or characteristic features of a person’s temperament. There are people who are inattentive in life, they often irritate colleagues and loved ones, because it is difficult to reach them, they do not “get in” the first time, they have to repeat and repeat the same phrases. Others behave this way only at work, immersing themselves in it headlong, and some relax in this way at home, devoting all their strength to professional activities and not responding to requests from loved ones to help with the housework or take care of the child.

There are many options, so let’s try to identify the main ones:

• In case of true inattention a person is so distracted from what is happening around that he creates the impression of his complete absence in this moment and in this place. Usually in such cases neither facial expressions nor eyes express anything. A similar condition can happen to anyone after prolonged stress, fatigue, sleepless nights, or monotonous activities. The person himself defines his condition as “confusion,” those around him say that “he is out of touch,” and experts call it prostration.
• Towards imaginary absent-mindedness include excessive concentration of attention on some own problem, which comes to the fore, eclipsing all others. Concentration on one thing, the inability to hear and understand the interlocutor, and solve other problems except one single one, is called imaginary absent-mindedness. It is typical for people who retreat into themselves to daydream and think or pursue a specific goal for a certain time (“goal hypnosis”), for example, this happens in professions that require special vigilance and concentration (drivers, pilots, dispatchers). Switching mental activity on foreign objects in such cases can have negative consequences, so a person, in order to perform his professional duties efficiently, does not have the right to be distracted by other matters. By the way, American scientists believe that driving a car is suitable for preventing Alzheimer's disease - constant concentration trains the brain and improves memory.
• Student absent-mindedness– is familiar to everyone who went to school. You don't need to know this by personal experience, even very diligent students could be affected by such absent-mindedness of a neighbor, who was distracted from the lesson, engaged in extraneous matters and interfered with children reaching for knowledge.
• Senile absent-mindedness, which overtakes many people who have been retired for a long time. With age, memory deteriorates, the ability to concentrate on specific things, clearly make plans and purposefully go towards the intended goal decreases. Memory impairment leads to the fact that some moments from this chain fall out, are forgotten, lost, which is why the productivity of all activities suffers. All sorts of things for older people move more slowly and often with mistakes, causing additional grief and even greater distraction of attention.
• Cognitive and selective inattention. Getting used to some constantly present things, sounds, situations, we stop reacting to them: we don’t watch the clock tick, we don’t count the beats of our hearts, we don’t pay attention to how the furniture is arranged in the room. own apartment. Knowing in advance where and what is located, we do not directly see the object that we look at every day and do not think about it. We won’t notice his disappearance right away either, although we can feel: “something is wrong”...
• Motivational-based inattention– a person tries to drive away thoughts and memories associated with unpleasant events, avoid communication with certain people, ignore certain places or roads.

It is unlikely that anyone has not caught himself inattentively, repeatedly reading a text he had memorized, or checking a work he had written in his own hand. Everything familiar, as a rule, falls away and thoughts go to the side. Simply because it’s not very interesting to delve into something that has been known for a long time.

Causes of absent-mindedness

Distraction of attention in most cases has reasons, including: serious illnesses You can put it in last place:

1. Physical and mental fatigue.
2. Lack of sleep.
3. A profession that requires performing the same type of monotonous movements or focusing on one object. Work behind the conveyor belt (monotony) and behind the wheel (all attention is directed to the road) weaken attention to the same extent.
4. Developed in the course of life, representatives of the scientific world have a habit of focusing on the subject of their scientific research and ignoring “earthly” problems. However, it should be noted that the memory of people involved in science does not fit the generally accepted canons (the relationship between attention and memory), they, as a rule, are well trained (professional memory), it’s just that a person considers something unnecessary and deliberately omits it, devoting attention to things that are of interest to him - gradually this approach becomes a habit.
5. Age. “Whether old or young” is a deficit of attention in both cases: old people can no longer concentrate on one topic for a long time, and children still can’t.
6. Strong anxiety prevents many people from concentrating, however, there are calm-blooded individuals who know how to control themselves in any situation.
7. Diseases (organic lesions, mental disorders, etc.).

Inattention and absent-mindedness, which seem to arise without cause and tend to progress, always require a search for a cause, after all, the inability to concentrate associated with fatigue always goes away quickly after rest, and disturbances in concentration, which have no explanation, are always alarming, since they often go along with symptoms and other signs of mental illness.

Attention deficit due to illness

It is difficult to imagine a person who is inattentive and absent-minded, but has a good memory. Typically, these categories are interrelated - With attention deficit, memory suffers. The terminology used by specialists does not always explain to patients the degree of impairment. Based on the reasons, the loss of the ability to concentrate on individual objects can have a different nature:

• Insufficient concentration, and therefore, a low ability to remember what is seen and heard is often characteristic of people who are said to be “on their own wavelength” or who are especially sensitive to unfavorable factors (fatigue, anxiety, lack of sleep);
• Rigidity(lethargy - difficulties in switching from one topic to another) often occurs in patients suffering from hypomania, hebephrenia.
• Instability of attention which is characterized by constant jumping from one object to another, so none of them remains in memory. Attention deficits are common in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and are a cause of memory problems and poor academic performance.

In principle, the causes of inattention and absent-mindedness are the same as the causes of memory impairment; these are various pathological conditions of the body:

1. Obstruction of blood supply and nutrition to the brain as a result vascular lesions( , and etc.);
2. Tumor processes;
3. Mental disorders (depressive states, schizophrenia, epilepsy);
4. of various origins ( , );
5. Sleep disorders (insomnia, sleep apnea syndrome);
6. Hypoxia;
7. Genetic factor;
8. Disturbance of metabolic processes ();
9. Lack of certain trace elements (iron, magnesium) or excess (lead).

However, if in most of the listed cases attention deficit occurs as a secondary symptom (along with other, more significant signs), then regarding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children it plays a role that determines the diagnosis.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a problem for parents and teachers

Neurologists call attention deficit hyperactivity disorder a violation of the functional abilities of the central nervous system. It is not difficult to guess that the development is based pathological condition are predominantly neurological problems, the causes of which are complex and mostly incomprehensible to ordinary people, disorders (imbalance in the synthesis of neurotransmitters - catecholamines, serotonin, etc., genetic mutations, cortical dysfunction frontal lobes And reticular formation). In addition, the appearance of ADHD can be provoked by seemingly harmless factors:

• Flavorings, preservatives and others nutritional supplements, which nowadays abound in various “delicacies”;
• Medicines – salicylic acid derivatives;
• Excessive craving for sweets;
• Disorders of carbohydrate metabolism;
• Allergic reactions to food;
• Shortage of much needed children's body chemical elements(especially iron and magnesium);
• An increased level of such a representative that is, in principle, alien to the body heavy metals, like lead - constant contact with its compounds, which were previously allowed to improve the characteristics of automobile fuel, forms in children mental retardation and another severe pathology CNS.

ADHD is most common in primary school, where the path to diagnosis begins with extreme restlessness, inattention and absent-mindedness, which cause poor academic performance.

A thorough study of a child’s behavior reveals the main symptoms of ADHD:

1. Instability of attention;
2. Memory impairment;
3. Low learning ability;
4. Excessive physical activity;
5. Incontinence in actions and desires;
6. Violent disagreement with personal defeats.

It should be noted that attention deficit always occurs in ADHD, but increased mobility is not one of the necessarily present signs of the syndrome (ADD without hyperactivity). In addition, sometimes a complicated version of ADHD occurs (neurosis-like or combined).

Manifestations of ADHD are noticeable to others

Due to the fact that with ADHD there is no significant damage to the brain, the symptoms will not differ in the severity of clinical manifestations.

Speech

To some extent (usually insignificantly) in children suffering from ADHD, due to increased distractibility and difficulties in the development of intellectual abilities, there is a delay in the formation of language and speech skills (speech impairment). In conversation, such children show intemperance, they are tactless and cheeky, they easily interfere in the conversation of their classmates or a teacher with another student, inserting indiscreet remarks. They are not afraid of offending someone and do not even think about what might follow such behavior.

Coordination of movements

Impaired coordination of movements is mainly limited to difficulty performing fine work:

• Children find it difficult to tie their own shoelaces;
• They do not like to color and cut out pictures, since such activities require precise movements and are difficult;
• They say about such children that they are not at all athletic, they have difficulty following the ball (impaired visual-spatial coordination), and attempts to learn to ride a bicycle or master a skateboard special success Dont Have.

Hyperactivity

Excessive activity, called hyperactivity, however, does not always occur with ADHD. In some children, activity is within normal limits or is generally reduced, which causes errors in the diagnosis of attention deficit disorder and untimely initiation of correction. But if hyperactivity is still present, then it is difficult not to notice a child who has it: he constantly fidgets, cannot sit in one place, gets up from his desk during school hours, and walks around the class. In children with ADHD, motor activity is usually aimless: the child is constantly climbing somewhere, running, cannot stop to play, and talks a lot.

It would seem that unrestrained mobility cannot be accompanied by drowsiness, but, nevertheless, such “perpetuum mobile” tends to sleep several times during the day - it’s just that these children often have problems falling asleep, and many also experience bedwetting.

Emotions

Emotions in the case of ADHD are poorly controlled: children are unbalanced, touchy, quickly become angry, and do not know how to accept even a minor defeat with dignity. Emotional disturbances almost always lead to changes that are not for the better. social relations. Unhealthy children, as a rule, negatively influence their peers, which causes problems with their parents and teachers - one impulsive child with irrepressible energy becomes too much, he interferes with everyone, bullies, and destroys everything in his path. Often children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder display aggression towards peers and adults. Especially to aggressive behavior boys are inclined.

Inattention

Attention disorder with ADHD it is noticeable both at school and at home. Lessons at school cause boredom in the child, which he tries to replace by talking with his neighbor at his desk (even during a test), some games or dreams. The diary of such a student is always replete with entries that have the same meaning: “he gets distracted in class and daydreams”, “disturbs his neighbor at his desk”, “is unable to concentrate and work independently”, “does not listen to the teacher”...

A similar picture is observed when performing homework– independent activity is difficult, and sometimes not given at all, so children desperately resist any work that requires mental effort. True, they react quickly to tasks, without even listening to their essence, and then just as quickly abandon the work they started. However, it should be noted here that by finding an approach to the child, managing to interest him and showing maximum patience, parents and teachers together can achieve considerable success in learning, and the performance indicators of such a student will not differ from the average.

Impulsiveness

In attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, attention deficit is almost always accompanied by impulsiveness, which significantly complicates the life of the child, and even more so for his parents. Carelessness, frivolity, carelessness, inability to calculate one step ahead the consequences of one’s actions, and, at the same time, the desire to show one’s courage, daring, and endurance often turns out in the most sad way (injuries, poisoning, etc.).

And yet, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is not always diagnosed with conduct disorder - this symptom alone is not enough for diagnosis.

It all starts in childhood

ADHD, as a rule, attracts the attention of others and, although the symptoms of the disease on which the diagnosis is based (decreased concentration, hyperactivity, impulsivity, difficult to control), appear before the first school bell(7 years), A child usually sees a doctor at the age of eight to ten. Parents in most cases consider their child to be simply super active, although behavioral problems have already appeared in kindergarten, and inattentive due to his youth, hoping that the school will help discipline him. In the first grade, everything is attributed to difficulties in adaptation, but then the child is required to have some independence, composure, and perseverance. All this is missing, academic performance is “lame”, behavior is extremely bad, communication with peers is impossible, teachers pose questions to parents...

50% of children diagnosed with ADHD in elementary school enter adolescence with the same problems, although hyperactivity declines somewhat. At this age, such children require special attention adults, since more often than others (successful) they show a tendency to drink alcohol, drug addiction, and substance abuse. Unable to settle down in a group of children, they easily succumb to the negative influence of the street and quickly join the ranks of juvenile delinquents.

Unfortunately, no more than 50% of problem teenagers, with the help of adults, manage to leave their diagnosis in adolescence; many come with it in adult life poorly adapted, socially unadapted, without normal education and profession. Due to increased impressionability, hot temper, impulsiveness, and sometimes pronounced aggression aimed at the outside world, it is difficult for such people to make friends and family, therefore, in this situation, they often experience a number of personality disorders and the formation of antisocial psychopathy.

Diagnosis: ADHD

It is unlikely that in the absence of obvious somatic pathology, absent-mindedness in adults will be a reason to visit a doctor. Usually, both relatives and colleagues get used to such a person, only occasionally becoming indignant at the inattention and absent-mindedness when he forgets about a request or does not complete an important assignment.

As for children, the reason for them to visit a psychologist and then a neurologist is the presence of the following symptoms:

1. Inattention, inability to concentrate;
2. Impulsiveness;
3. Impaired coordination of movements;
4. Hyperactivity;
5. Emotional lability;
6. Memory impairment, learning difficulties.

The first step towards diagnosis is:

• Examination by a neurologist who evaluates fine motor skills and identifies neurological symptoms;
• Questionnaire with filling out a diagnostic card;
• Neuropsychological testing (assessment of the level of attention, intellectual abilities, performance in relation to long-term mental activity, etc.)

1. Behavior correction techniques;
2. Psychotherapeutic methods;
3. Neuropsychological correction.

It is very important to participate in the treatment process of parents and teachers, who first need to explain that such children do not do anything “out of spite,” it’s just how they work out.

Of course, raising a difficult child is not easy, but one should not go to extremes: permissiveness due to excessive pity for a sick child and excessive demands that a little person is simply not able to follow are equally not allowed. You should always build a relationship with a difficult child with a positive, friendly attitude. Under no circumstances should you transfer your bad mood and personal problems onto your child; you need to speak to him softly, calmly, quietly, without shouting or prohibiting words like “no”, “no”, “never”.

Parents with problem children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder will have to:

• Adapt to your baby’s daily routine and strictly follow it:
• Make sure that the day goes by without fuss, overwork, or long periods of sitting in front of the TV or computer screen;
• Try to interest the child in some way sports games, go with him to the pool and for walks in the fresh air;
• Try not to attend events with large crowds of people, do not invite too noisy, cheerful (or vice versa?) guests.

It must not be allowed that primary classes To little man the label of uncontrollable, incapable, unsuccessful has stuck - everything can be fixed, it just takes time, which should not be rushed. Adults will need maximum patience, faith in success, support everywhere and in everything, so that the child himself believes in his own strength. If a difficult child receives help, understanding, and a kind attitude towards himself, then results, more likely, won't disappoint– here parents have a special responsibility.

Concerning drug therapy, then they try to use it last if psychotherapeutic measures do not give the desired effect. Indications for prescribing medications - strictly individual. Of course, specialists use antidepressants, central nervous system stimulants, and other pharmaceutical groups of drugs, but extreme caution should still be exercised with medications - the child’s psyche is sensitive and vulnerable.

Video: attention deficit disorder - expert opinion

Video: hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder - Dr. Komarovsky

Video: lecture on ADHD and its treatment

Didn't show up for the scheduled meeting, started missing out important points at work, can't focus on the problem? Are you trying to reproduce a situation, imagine a person or an object, but you are unable to form a clear picture? Apparently, absent-mindedness has overtaken you too. Let's try to figure it out in this article against the background of what causes absent-mindedness, forgetfulness and inattention.

Impaired concentration of attention, and then general forgetfulness, occurs as a result of certain diseases, and also affects older people; pregnant women suffer from inattention. The reason here lies in the physiological changes that overtake the body. But we will consider exactly psychological reasons inattention, which can and should be combated.

If you regularly forget your phone or apartment keys at home, look at your diary, but after a minute you don’t remember what you read there, think about what this might be connected with.

Causes of inattention. Let's start to figure it out

1. Technogenic overload.

The era of new technologies, information overload, constant stress. The accelerated pace of life catches up with each of us. These are the conditions in which most urban residents live. Our brain's ability to concentrate, structure and remember deteriorates in such conditions. Constant stress and increased intensity of life leads to mental and physical stress, as well as a decrease in concentration.

Replay one of your working days when you are forced to focus on several tasks at once. You answer a client on the phone, at the same time making notes in your diary, while trying to print documents. And in your thoughts you are already planning the route of the upcoming trip and going to pick up your child at kindergarten. In such conditions, along with a decrease in attention, banal overwork and exhaustion will not be long in coming.

2. Lack of sleep.

7-9 hours healthy sleep a person needs to support normal life activities. It is also important to fall asleep between 22-23 hours, it is during this period that the body recovers better and replenishes energy reserves. Chronic lack of sleep leads to increased irritability and excitability, and provokes forgetfulness. Physical fatigue is guaranteed to lead to impaired concentration.

3. Hard work.

Do you regularly feel irritated at the thought of work? You or the working conditions? Maybe you are annoyed by your occupation or your own poor performance? Then work, or rather its psychological consequences, is the reason for your forgetfulness.

4. Stress.

A person’s absent-mindedness due to depression and stress is one of the most common and widespread causes of forgetfulness. In this situation, the ability to think clearly is lost and concentration is impaired. By directing thoughts in a negative direction, as often happens under stress, you provoke inattention by not giving yourself the opportunity to see other sides of the situation.

5. Sedentary lifestyle and poor diet.

These are the factors against which impaired concentration develops. Of course, after sitting alone at home all day with three pizzas, you are unlikely to instantly feel yourself becoming inattentive. But when this becomes the norm, the body does not receive a physical “shake-up”, focusing on work and problems, you have no resources left for other areas of life.

6. Chaos.

Lack of order in personal life, work activity, emotional state- common causes of forgetfulness. This is due to the fact that, being scattered across many tasks, you physically cannot cover everything. By structuring your life, you can more easily manage your attention and focus on important things.

Absent-mindedness can strike a person at any age. In the modern rhythm of life, we are overtaken by overwork, mental exhaustion, lack of sleep, stressful situations. These factors provoke absent-mindedness, forgetfulness and inattention.

But by understanding the reasons for inattention, you can resist it. Get rid of the root of the problem and you can prevent the onset negative consequences. If you pay attention to sudden inattention and inability to concentrate in time, there is a high chance of preventing more serious emotional and psychological problems arising against the background of the factors listed in the article.