The best methods for getting rid of absent-mindedness and inattention. Inattention, attention deficit disorder (ADHD): causes, symptoms, treatment

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 feature human 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. Similar condition can happen to anyone after prolonged exercise, fatigue, sleepless night, 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 withdraw into themselves for daydreaming and thinking or pursuing 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 to foreign objects in similar cases may have Negative consequences Therefore, in order to perform his professional duties efficiently, a person has no 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. For older people, things move more slowly and often with mistakes, causing additional grief and even greater distraction.
• 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 our 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 by individuals, ignore some 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 and 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. As a rule, 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:

• Lack of 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 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 largely unclear 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 mental retardation and other severe pathology of the central nervous system in children.

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, and here increased mobility does not belong to 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 insignificant) in children suffering from ADHD, due to increased distractibility, developmental difficulties 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, it is difficult for them to follow the ball (impaired visual-spatial coordination), and attempts to learn to ride a bicycle or master a skateboard do not have much success.

Hyperactivity

Excessive activity, called hyperactivity, however, does not always occur with ADHD. Some babies are active within normal limits or generally reduced, which is the cause of errors in diagnosing 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 a change 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 many, 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 doing 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 teenage years with the same problems, although the hyperactivity is somewhat subsiding. 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 fit into a children's group, they easily succumb negative influence streets and are quickly joining 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 explicit 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.

Participation in healing process parents and teachers, who first need to explain that such children do not do anything “out of spite,” it’s just how they do it.

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 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 apply it in last resort , 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 others pharmaceutical groups drugs, however, 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

Home » Health » Absent-mindedness. Reasons and how to get rid of absent-mindedness

Sometimes we hear that absent-mindedness is a “trait of the great,” but this is said by people who do not want to get rid of their shortcomings, which are not as harmless as they might seem.

What is absent-mindedness?

Experts determine absent-mindedness, as a state of attention, expressed in a person’s inability to concentrate on events and actions. Absent-mindedness is also called lack of concentration, inattention and forgetfulness; sometimes it is emphasized that this is not a vice, but just a property of nature or character.

However, no person is born absent-minded - of course, we are not talking about innate mental disorders. Some people, wanting to console their inattentive acquaintances, call absent-mindedness a “cute flaw,” but there are many cases when this flaw became the cause of real tragedies: for example, it resulted in a violation of safety regulations at work or a road accident. Of course, not all absent-minded people pose a threat to the safety of society, but they create enough problems: they are ineffective at work, and they cannot build relationships in the family, creating everyday “cataclysms” and forgetting about the urgent needs of loved ones - everything is attributed to absent-mindedness and poor memory.

Absent-mindedness has nothing to do with memory impairment- this is a violation of attention, and this trait in the vast majority of cases is not innate - it is acquired in the process of life. Therefore, you can and should get rid of absent-mindedness if you want to improve your life and stop causing yourself and those around you minor, and possibly major, troubles.

Causes of absent-mindedness

Experts distinguish two main types of absent-mindedness: real and imaginary.

In the first case absent-mindedness may indeed be caused by health problems: neurasthenia, anemia of various types, diseases respiratory system and nasopharynx syndrome chronic fatigue and severe fatigue. In such cases, people can hardly keep their attention on something specific, and are easily distracted - in order to concentrate on an action or object, they have to make a lot of volitional efforts.

Imaginary absent-mindedness, as paradoxical as it sounds, often arises precisely because of concentration, but excessive concentration, when attention is directed to one thing, and a person does not notice other objects and phenomena. This type includes “absent-mindedness of the great”: scientists, professors, executives, and even businessmen and politicians often “suffer” from it - the absent-mindedness of the latter is quite costly for other people.

In Western culture, there is a belief that absent-minded people “cannot be corrected,” but this point of view is not based on anything - people simply do not want to take care of themselves. But in the east there are few scattered ones: to the eastern man It wouldn’t even occur to you to justify your inattention to the world around you with weak memory and character traits.

So absent-mindedness is not a fatal trait, and its causes can be eliminated on your own.

We have the power to adjust our sleep and rest patterns and learn to avoid stressful situations, arrange for yourself balanced diet and give up bad habits. Already what is listed here is often enough for absent-mindedness to recede; if you can’t completely cope with it, perhaps it’s due to a lack of certain substances - for example, B vitamins, and especially folic acid and B12.

Folic acid, which the brain needs for normal operation, rich in peanuts, livestock and poultry liver, beans, green salad and spinach, nuts and seeds, broccoli and wild garlic, barley grits and horseradish, mushrooms and leeks, citrus fruits and whole grains, tomatoes and eggs. Some of the listed products contain a lot of vitamin B12, and it is also found in seafood and sea ​​fish, rabbit meat, cheese and sour cream. If you make sure that these foods are always in your diet - they can be alternated and combined - the manifestations of absent-mindedness will significantly decrease or disappear altogether.

True, to this it is worth adding some methods of memory training, meditation, and also starting to learn to live and act in such a way that there is no room left for absent-mindedness.

This is especially true for women: not because they are more forgetful or inattentive than men - they just often have to deal with several things at the same time. Psychologists recommend accustoming yourself to strictly follow certain rules.

To begin with, as sad as it may be, you will have to give up the habit of doing several things at once: do one thing at a certain point in time. When attention is restored, it will be possible to return everything “to its place,” but without fanaticism.

Start any business after you have clearly thought through the sequence of actions. In general, it is proposed to do all the actions mentally - this will take some time, but you are unlikely to forget where you wanted to go, what you wanted to say, take, bring, do, etc.

Other tips: associate your thoughts with certain images, select visual cues - this can be done, but there is also a way out - do not put off small matters “for later”. If the task requires preparation and time, immediately make a written reminder for yourself (or better yet, several, on bright sticky notes), and leave it in the place where you are most often: in the kitchen, in the bathroom or on the mirror in hallway The mirror technique helps many women - after all, we look at it more than once a day.

Another, rather unexpected piece of advice is to write down everything related to your absent-mindedness. For example, you forgot to do something important, and this caused problems, or even troubles - write it down and do this every day: after a few weeks you will notice that there are fewer cases of absent-mindedness.

Stop living “automatically” and start being aware of yourself at every moment of time - be “here and now”. You can start with the simplest thing: when performing actions, say out loud what exactly you are doing. Literally like this: “I close the car door”, “I turn off the electric stove”, “I take medicine” - gradually you will learn to monitor your actions in any situation, and the “isolation from the world” will disappear. Automatism is often a consequence of overwork: the brain needs rest, and it doesn’t care what happens to you if you forget about something important to you - it will simply turn off your attention, and you will begin to act unconsciously and mechanically. Review your affairs and responsibilities: perhaps some of them can be entrusted to others, and some can be abandoned altogether, and it’s fine to do without them while your absent-mindedness did not lead to any life catastrophe.

If you cannot get rid of absent-mindedness on your own, you will have to go to a specialist: it may be hidden depression or another disease of the central nervous system - then special therapy will be required, including medications.

Have you forgotten that you have to go somewhere or make a phone call, missed the beginning of your favorite TV show, overlooked the fact that you have to buy bread and blame your memory for it all?

And in vain! Usually such things happen not due to lack of memory, but due to inhibition. This absence is often because you forgot, missed, or missed something. Without the absence of a direct connection with memory there is no.

This can hinder your ability to have a good memory at the same time. Typically, lack of thought comes down to dissatisfaction. A person cannot concentrate on the current activity and therefore does not remember where to place the keys, forget to turn off the oven or copy files to a flash drive.

The reasons for this lack of attention may be: fatigue or insomnia, monotonous routine surgery, some frustration (he had already reached out to take and put the keys in his pocket when the phone suddenly rang and all the plans were out of my head!), or simply the habit that it is absent and unable to organize and focus on current activities.

If you know that the cause is fatigue, just rest.

It also helps to change actions, new experiences. Try somewhere you haven't been before, read a book or magazine you haven't read, prepare new company.

In general, there are ways to deal with absence:

1. Pause to collect your thoughts and find out what you have done, what has already been done, what needs to be done. If the pause began before starting a new task, try to imagine how you will do it, what it will take, etc.

   Just stop, do nothing and wake up to think about what you are doing at the moment.

2. Focus on the present moment. Think about what you are doing right now.

   Very often, absenteeism occurs due to the fact that a person is dealing with one thing, but his thoughts are in other areas. And this is very bad if you have developed a habit of this - absence has become the norm for you in your life.

3. Immediate action. Many of the things we have to do require very little time for our work. And then putting them back (who was just waiting to hear a song on the radio or to entertain thoughts - the result is that it will only take a few hours or days to collect), which will only increase the chaos in your life and create good reason to distract attention

   The matter seems to require some kind of thinking or preparation. In most cases, a decision can be made quickly, eliminating the problem and not bogging down your head with a pile of unfinished activities.

4. Using visual calls.

   How to get rid of forgetfulness and absence

   To make sure you don't forget anything, use some items as clues and place them in places where they will remind you of the item. Place small items in your pocket that remind you what to do.

5. Use bona fide associations.

   Mentalize what you need with the objects or environment in which they will work. As a result, when you are on the site, you will remember what you need to do. How to create an association is a special article on our website.

6. Avoid chaos in your life - remove everything unnecessary.

   Try to avoid unnecessary things at work. The chaos it creates helps to distract attention. If it's a table, bring extra books, sticky notes, scissors, markers, etc.

   not currently required, not relevant. If you work on a computer, then clean out your desktop - remove or move shortcuts somewhere you rarely use. In addition, the need to constantly search right place among various garbage does not allow us to focus on the right thing.

Here are methods that will help you get rid of absence and for which you do not need any special skills or skills.

Needless to say, absent-mindedness It really interferes with a person’s life. It can bring a lot of troubles at home and even more at work, where strict fulfillment of assigned tasks and goals is required. One of its most important causes is considered to be hereditary characteristics and improper upbringing in childhood. But this is a property that can and should be fought.

Instructions

When starting any work, try to create appropriate conditions for this: it should not be distracted by extraneous conversations, music, noise, etc.

Organize your workspace so that you don't have to search for the things you need.

If you feel tired, try to take a short break from work: take a few physical exercise, switch your attention to some other object - look in the mirror, out the window, close your eyes, put things in order on a shelf or desk drawer, etc.

Make a few deep breaths to increase the flow of oxygen to the brain - the efficiency of your work will only increase.

Not every job is done with pleasure. And if you resist it on a subconscious level, the consequence of this may also be a lack of concentration. So, either change your job, or set yourself specific goals, motivate her and control the implementation process.

Do not rush to speak out and do not give way to emotions while you are listening to what is being said to you.

Always try to make sense of the information you receive. It may be worth formulating and asking clarifying questions so that you understand everything you have heard.

Develop the habit of concentration. To do this, you need to constantly ensure that your thoughts do not “slip” onto extraneous things. Pull yourself back and get back to what really matters.

To remember to do something, try writing down the most important tasks in a notebook and monitoring their completion.

The best methods for getting rid of absent-mindedness and inattention

It’s a good idea to buy special sticky notes: write down what you need on them, stick them in a visible place, and throw them away after you’ve done this.

Try to make some actions automatic. So, for example, if you are constantly looking for where you put your flash drive, documents, etc., allocate a specific place for these items and develop the habit of putting them there constantly.

After some time, your actions will become automatic.

Often, absent-mindedness increases as a result of overwork. In this case, other symptoms of fatigue usually appear, such as insomnia, nervous breakdowns, constant feeling anxiety. If you find such signs in yourself, first of all, normalize your daily routine - set aside time not only for work, but also for rest. Start doing serious tasks after a thorough rest.

To get rid of absent-mindedness, schedule daily walks in the fresh air, exercise, or light jogging.

In the morning, try to stretch the muscles of your shoulders and neck more.

Find it in books or on the Internet special exercises, which help develop attentiveness and the ability to concentrate.

Play logic games and such computer games, in which attentiveness is required. Train your memory. To do this, study, read and absorb something.

Sent by: Nikitina Alla. 2017-09-18 15:07:41

“Instead of a hat as he walked, he put on a frying pan...” wrote the classic in a poem about the highest level of absent-mindedness. This probably doesn't actually happen. But, nevertheless, absent-mindedness is truly a global problem. Harmonessa.org I learned how to deal with it without the help of medications, and which methods are the most effective.

Who are they, these scattered ones?

This is not entirely true.

Absent-mindedness can be caused by chronic fatigue, stressful condition or depression, lack of sleep or irregular diet, or lack of vitamins.

One thing is clear: if suddenly you begin to notice in yourself alarming symptoms sudden forgetfulness, you need to make every effort to cope with it.

Fighting an invisible enemy

The first step in this fight should be your favorite type of recreation.

If the next vacation was not enough to ensure it, take a vacation without saving wages. The most important thing is that while on vacation nothing should distract you from your vacation.

No less important is correct routine day. If necessary, still visit a specialist who will help you create a daily routine and, in particular, proper nutrition.

Being practical...

All upcoming affairs and plans are best reflected on paper in writing.

For this purpose, many years ago a special notebook was created, called a diary. The main thing is not to forget the diary itself at home!

Folk remedies for absent-mindedness

The most popular and easiest thing to do has always been to draw a cross on your hand. Notorious “anti-scrapers” of hands and palms also offer other, more sophisticated methods.

Among them are tying a knot on an item of clothing, putting an associative item or a note with a reminder next to you.

If we are talking about minute actions, you can carry them out in a certain order and leave, for example, the most pleasant of them for last, remembering that you need to do all the others first.

Also think about “calling a friend.”

And indeed: sometimes our faithful friends or the closest people do not allow us to forget that they should not remember everything for us. Don't forget to thank them for this!

As soon as an invisible reminder flashed in your thoughts not to forget about something, it must be immediately recorded and reflected in more tangible actions described in other paragraphs of the article.

Experts suggest using basil decoction and citrus juice as brain nutrition.

And if you approach it technically...

Set reminders on your mobile phone, landline phone or computer. If neither one nor the other is at hand, you can also use a music center as an “annunciator”, programming it in advance for the required time.

If the event itself is important, and not the time, choose an appropriate song.

From a psychological point of view

If you have absolutely nothing at hand, but you need to try not to forget something very important, and there are several such nuances, make an invisible plan in your mind with the appropriate number of points.

In each paragraph, highlight the main defining word and remember it.

Repeat the words several times in the order in which you memorized them.

How to get rid of absent-mindedness

If you feel that you can forget about some less important nuance, select some associations that are pleasant to your heart.

And most importantly: remember the exact number of points. The above method can be used, for example, when making a shopping list while going to the store.

Train your memory and attentiveness

Memorizing poetry, solving crosswords and puzzles (preferably Sudoku or Japanese) will ideally help with this. It is also useful to retell prose texts and write summaries (at the same time you will practice your literacy).

Lots of memory for you!

Olga Pavlushenko
Photo by Andrey Dulebenets

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It should not be confused with the term " multiple sclerosis"(chronic organic disease).

Lack of attention- Impaired ability to concentrate. Lack of attention refers to the occurrence of undesirable phenomena, as well as defects of attention and the occurrence of selective (purposeful) irritation.

It is different in the nature and causes of this phenomenon.

Types

There are several types of distractions:

1. Real unreasonable (dissipation) . It was first described by William James. At this moment, a person moves away from something important in external environment, from your plans. His attention wanders, not stopping for long on any object. This condition can be called prostration.

   RAM: how to deal with absent-mindedness, a method of unification

   The person's thoughts and feelings are blurred, there is a decrease in power, an inability to focus on anything specifically, and a lack of interest in what is happening. This absence is associated with insomnia, fatigue, headaches, monotonous and monotonous work. This condition may be accompanied by boredom. Exhibit a special look distraction, phenomenon road hypnosis, occurs when a person drives a car on a quiet road for a long time and nothing happens.

   The driver enters a state such as half-time, there is a feeling of “time failure” (not hearing the time spent on the road). This can happen during each monotonous part.

2. Imaginary absence arises due to the difficulty of distributing attention (a person cannot divide attention between various objects of the external and internal environment).

   This is a negative consequence of deep internal concentration. A person makes mistakes because he is focused on solving the problem of his own emotions and thoughts and does not notice what is happening around him, for example, in everyday life.

   There are often two types of options. Professor of absence, when there is a logical arrangement of harmonious and emotionally neutral thinking and is intended to solve complex problems. Poetic absence when a person is in a state of sleep. In these two forms, absence can manifest itself in errors of irritation, when the usual automatic course of activity is disrupted.

   Any face, if it is absorbed in something, becomes undesirable. Also note the view imaginary absence, when an external object completely alerts attention, for example, about “target hypnosis” in military pilots.

3. Student absenteeism which is seen as extreme mobility and distraction. Attention moves discreetly from one object to another, without holding them for a long time. This occurs in children with ADHD and in some types of psychopathology.
4. Old absence poor transition combined with inadequate active concentration, attention falls in love with something, but the level of attention is low, so such concentration is ineffective.
5. Gestalt psychologists in the early twentieth century wrote that we can talk about absence as a strong disregard for certain actions, thoughts and feelings.

   For example, it is difficult to focus on certain emotional and emotional states, such as anger.

6. Even the engine cognitive or selective undesirability , such as familiar surroundings, countdowns, sparkling hearts, etc.
7. Motivational Excitement when a person carefully, but not always consciously avoids cities or people, does not think about specific topics.

   This type of absence was described by S. Freud in his monograph “Psychopathology of Everyday Life”.

Some attention problems arise when reading well-known texts, frequently repeated acts and speech, etc.

causes

Lack of attention is acquired during a person's life and is not congenital.

This symptom is not nonspecific and can occur for a variety of reasons. It is believed that lack of attention may reflect an unconscious reluctance to do what one should focus on.

Lack of attention can be caused by fatigue, insomnia, headache, monotonous and monotonous activity (most often this occurs in the first form of absence). Lack of attention also occurs due to organic brain damage.

This occurs in many mental illnesses, such as depression or anxiety disorder when a person has difficulty concentrating on something. There is a concept of aproexception, i.e. total loss attention

treatment

Because absence is not nonspecific symptom, it is healed or corrected depending on the cause of the complication.

If this occurs as a result of anxiety or depression, it is called antidepressants and medicines with an anxiolytic effect, if due to organic damage to the brain is a nootropic drug.

In some cases there is no need at all medical care, but psychotherapy requires rest or elimination of the cause in the form of a traumatic state.

comments

1. Falikman M.V. Attention please. Moscow: Academy, 2006.
2. Dormashev Yu. B., Romanov V. Ya. Psychology of attention. Moscow: Flinta, 2002.
3. Zhmurov V.A. psychopathology

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Home »Health» Accidents: types and causes. How to deal with an accident

Neglect: types and causes. How to deal with an accident

Today, unreasonableness has become not only a problem, but also the cause of many problems and even tragedies.

For example, how can a company ignore the dissatisfaction of a person who performs complex and responsible work, including those related to technology?

Of course, you can try not to think, but it is better to study attention in detail from childhood: then it will be much less than adults who will not be able to adequately solve the problem of life in order to obtain information in right moment to focus and just work is normal and productive.

Types of attention and carelessness

Scientists distinguish several types of attention.

To be voluntary (passive, emotional) is called attention, which manifests itself regardless of our efforts or “on its own”: when we encounter a person in a crowd dressed lightly and unusually, or suddenly hear loud sounds etc.

Emotional attention is caused by the fact that people see or do not notice certain phenomena, objects and events under the influence of emotions.

A disappointed person walking down the street is unlikely to notice a bright flowerbed or cheerful children playing, but they will see garbage and dirt, and passers-by will be sad and sad. We need this kind of attention: if it is "switched off", we cannot react to danger and not exercise caution - these people are called "absent-minded", but things get more complicated.

The ability to respond to alien and unexpected stimuli can also play a negative role: seeing what happens makes us anxious about our work.

This is loosely called attention, which helps focus on a specific task or subject: we love ourselves, and we try to achieve immediate attention. Thus, many begin to experience problems: we cannot pay everyone's attention to where it is needed.

A bunch of various factors interfere with: fatigue, agitation, irritation and other conditions that often occur towards the end of the day, but most workers are in these conditions almost always. Often, when we arrive at work in the morning, we find that we cannot “unite”, which is even more annoying.

Depending on the state of health and mood, inattention can be the result of interference - attention "fluttering" from one object to another - or fatigue of the nervous system - we have lost interest in what is happening around us.

Where does inattention come from?

You don't have to leave things as they are: you may need expert help, although you may often run into problems on your own.

Just understand and understand what is stopping us from paying attention.

Technology is developing rapidly, and all this makes life easier.

As a result, life becomes “easier”, so that we almost stop moving, and sedentary image life resembles memory and weakens attention.

How to get rid of absenteeism and inattention

This is why many people have insomnia: although a person feels "exhausted" mentally, he cannot sleep because many physiological processes. Lack of sleep is also a cause of insufficiency: it causes irritability and inability to concentrate, and work efficiency is significantly reduced.

Besides work, we are often “Georgians”, so she stops thinking and loses orientation in time: for example, while working with important documents, we also try to correspond in in social networks and even talk on the phone, as well as for services and mobile phones.

Unfortunately, the image is characteristic and the unwanted consequence of this behavior is so it is better to have a closer look at the brain.

Instead of “reminders”, try using a regular journal and including all the relevant information: attention is activated just because you will be holding a pen or pencil more often.

Sometimes mobile phone and even the Internet should be turned off: after you have rested for yourself for the day, you can do a lot of accumulated work and finish a lot of cases.

You can also cope with lack of movement and lack of sleep.

The gym doesn't go to the gym, but we've learned to work in school in the morning - it's time to remember that. And go as soon as possible: Fresh air and sun improve the ability to think clearly and concentrate. I don’t believe that leaving will take time - as a rule, everything turns out differently. And when you start exercising regularly and going for a walk, your sleep will return to normal “automatically”: insomnia will disappear, and your efficiency and attention will begin to improve.

What to do with stress?

Stress is the cause of the most common diseases and is catastrophically weakened: in general, we can stop responding to environment and think about it.

Stress is always stress (this is the word and translation from English), and occurs in most people due to negative feelings of varying degrees of power.

Therefore, as soon as you notice that you are tired, nervous and worried about something, edit the rest: you can relax for 15 minutes and go live during the working day. No time? Leave work for at least 5 minutes and regularly prepare such breaks - stress immediately begins to subside.

IN otherwise you may start to experience headache, digestive problems and heart palpitations, breathing problems, then persistent depression and severe weakening immune system: When attention problems fade into the background, they need to be taken seriously.

Negative emotions, not just harmful and deadly ones, especially now when life is “in full swing”: extremely extreme in an emergency state of emergency attract dangerous and catastrophic events.

Growing problems should not be “buried” but structurally resolved; It is better to transform emotions into positive ones - success comes with practice.

When to see doctors

A little about countries where it is better not to try to manage yourself, but to go to specialists: the sooner, the better.

Now there is a new type psychological disorder- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Psychologists call it ADHD, starting in childhood, but they can get support.

Adults with this syndrome have difficulty completing coordinated tasks and do not work well in groups; often have low self-worth and feel unfit. Treatment methods are different: psychotherapy, neuropsychological correction - special exercises, exercises, etc. And drug therapy- very rare.

If you sleep about 8 hours a day and still feel sleepy and lethargic, if any sharp fluctuations mood without an obvious reason, if you find it difficult to sit in one place for more than 5-10 minutes, consult a specialist.

You have to go to the doctor and if you interfere with the work in the short term, you won't be able to get it back for a long time and try to find as many reasons as possible.

However, everything can be simpler (or more difficult for some): work must change.

- “a trait of the great,” but this is what people say who do not want to get rid of their shortcomings, which are not as harmless as they might seem.

What is absent-mindedness?

Experts determine absent-mindedness, as a state of attention, expressed in a person’s inability to concentrate on events and actions. Absent-mindedness is also called lack of concentration, inattention and forgetfulness; sometimes it is emphasized that this is not a vice, but just a property of nature or character.

However, no person is born absent-minded - of course, we are not talking about congenital mental disorders. Some people, wanting to console their inattentive acquaintances, call absent-mindedness a “cute flaw,” but there are many cases when this flaw became the cause of real tragedies: for example, it resulted in a violation of safety regulations at work or a road accident. Of course, not all absent-minded people pose a threat to the safety of society, but they create enough problems: they are ineffective at work, and they cannot build relationships in the family, creating everyday “cataclysms” and forgetting about the urgent needs of loved ones - everything is attributed to absent-mindedness and poor memory.

Absent-mindedness has nothing to do with memory impairment- this is a violation of attention, and this trait in the vast majority of cases is not innate - it is acquired in the process of life. Therefore, you can and should get rid of absent-mindedness if you want to improve your life and stop causing yourself and those around you minor, and possibly major, troubles.

Causes of absent-mindedness

Experts distinguish two main types of absent-mindedness: real and imaginary.

In the first case absent-mindedness can really be caused by health problems: neurasthenia, anemia of various types, diseases of the respiratory system and nasopharynx, chronic fatigue syndrome and severe fatigue. In such cases, people can hardly keep their attention on something specific, and are easily distracted - in order to concentrate on an action or object, they have to make a lot of volitional efforts.

Imaginary absent-mindedness, as paradoxical as it sounds, often arises precisely because of concentration, but excessive concentration, when attention is directed to one thing, and a person does not notice other objects and phenomena. This type includes “absent-mindedness of the great”: scientists, professors, executives, and even businessmen and politicians often “suffer” from it - the absent-mindedness of the latter is quite costly for other people.

In Western culture, there is a belief that absent-minded people “cannot be corrected,” but this point of view is not based on anything - people simply do not want to take care of themselves. But in the east there are few scattered people: it would not occur to an eastern person to justify his inattention to the world around him with weak memory and character traits.

So absent-mindedness is not a fatal trait, and its causes can be eliminated on your own.

How to get rid of absent-mindedness

We have the power to adjust our sleep and rest patterns, learn to avoid stressful situations, arrange a balanced diet for ourselves and give up bad habits. Already what is listed here is often enough for absent-mindedness to recede; if you can’t completely cope with it, perhaps it’s a lack of certain substances - for example, B vitamins, and especially folic acid and B12.

Peanuts, livestock and poultry liver, beans, green salad and spinach, nuts and seeds, broccoli and wild garlic, barley and horseradish, mushrooms and leeks, citrus fruits and whole grains, tomatoes are rich in folic acid, which is necessary for the brain to function normally. and eggs. Some of the listed products contain a lot of vitamin B12, and it is also found in seafood and sea fish, rabbit meat, cheese and sour cream. If you make sure that these foods are always in your diet - they can be alternated and combined - manifestations of absent-mindedness will significantly decrease or disappear altogether.

True, to this it is worth adding some methods of memory training, meditation, and also starting to learn to live and act in such a way that there is no room left for absent-mindedness.

This is especially true for women: not because they are more forgetful or inattentive than men - they just often have to deal with several things at the same time. Psychologists recommend accustoming yourself to strictly follow certain rules.

To begin with, as sad as it may be, you will have to give up the habit of doing several things at once: do one thing at a certain point in time. When attention is restored, it will be possible to return everything “to its place,” but without fanaticism.

Start any business after you have clearly thought through the sequence of actions. In general, it is proposed to do all the actions mentally - this will take some time, but you are unlikely to forget where you wanted to go, what you wanted to say, take, bring, do, etc.

Other tips: associate your thoughts with certain images, select visual cues - this can be done, but there is also a way out - do not put off small matters “for later”. If the task requires preparation and time, immediately make a written reminder for yourself (or better yet, several, on bright sticky notes), and leave it in the place where you are most often: in the kitchen, in the bathroom or on the mirror in hallway The mirror technique helps many women - after all, we look at it more than once a day.

Another, rather unexpected piece of advice is to write down everything related to your absent-mindedness. For example, you forgot to do something important, and this caused problems, or even troubles - write it down and do this every day: after a few weeks you will notice that there are fewer cases of absent-mindedness.

Stop living “automatically” and start being aware of yourself at every moment of time - be “here and now”. You can start with the simplest thing: when performing actions, say out loud what exactly you are doing. Literally like this: “I close the car door”, “I turn off the electric stove”, “I take medicine” - gradually you will learn to monitor your actions in any situation, and the “isolation from the world” will disappear. Automatism is often a consequence of overwork: the brain needs rest, and it doesn’t care what happens to you if you forget about something important to you - it will simply turn off your attention, and you will begin to act unconsciously and mechanically. Review your affairs and responsibilities: perhaps some of them can be entrusted to others, and some can be abandoned altogether, and it’s fine to do without them while your absent-mindedness did not lead to any life catastrophe.

If you cannot get rid of absent-mindedness on your own, you will have to go to a specialist: perhaps it is hidden depression or another disease of the central nervous system - then special therapy will be required, including medication.

Can you say the following about yourself?

1. You enter a room and the first thing you do is not understand why you entered.
2. You are always late.
3. You can never find your keys (purse, etc.).
4. You get distracted in the middle of a conversation.
5. You don't know what to do with your future because your thoughts aren't organized enough to make any plans.
6. You are unable to concentrate.

1. Put everything in its place

Sounds simple, but for some people it's easier said than done.

Try to develop routine habits. For example, when entering a room, always place your keys in the same place. When visiting the supermarket, park in the same place whenever possible. In other words, let all this become a matter of habit for you. It may take some time to re-educate yourself, but after a few weeks your life will be better.

2. Write lists

When my head is spinning with a billion different things I need to do, my emotions begin to overwhelm me. As a result, I don’t have time to do absolutely anything. At times like these, I immediately start making a list before I forget something important.

When I see a piece of paper in front of me with a list of tasks, for some reason I feel better. Sometimes I even prioritize items and write next to them the time it will take to complete them. For example, at 10:00 I will answer all incoming emails, and at 11:30 I will start the washing machine. It sounds corny, but it really works.

3. Use a timer

If you are constantly running late, learn how to set a timer on your oven or microwave, or buy an egg timer for this purpose.

No matter how bad the signal is, it will distract you and direct your attention to more pressing matters.

Using timers eliminates the need for people to justify themselves by saying that they have completely lost track of time. This simply cannot happen with a timer, or at least it shouldn't.

4. Make a schedule and try to stick to it

Perhaps you are a technology lover and keep your schedule on your phone, or you are used to writing everything down on paper the old fashioned way. In any case, a schedule is a necessary thing.

It's obvious, but we really do live in a world overloaded. various kinds schedules. Believe me, I have a lot of friends who live without them. And if you are one of those people, it's time to fix it. Plan your day and keep track of your goals. Otherwise, what's the point of a schedule if you don't follow it?

5. Distribute responsibilities

You are not Superman and you cannot do absolutely everything. But some people, due to their perfectionism, do not understand this. Ideal people does not exist, it is fiction.

If your overloaded life is making you distracted, ask others to help you. For example, let the children run the washing machine themselves, and your spouse pick up your daughter from her friend. You don't have to do everything yourself!

6. Use sticky notes

It seems to me that the person who invented sticky notes is the most brilliant person who has ever lived on the planet. Although this is an exaggeration, stickers really work!

If you need to immediately send an email or make a call after arriving at work, put a reminder sticker on your phone. Arriving at your office, the first thing you will probably do is check for notifications on your phone, and this reminder will immediately catch your eye. Simple and effective.

But don't use too many stickers! Otherwise, you will overload your brain and simply stop noticing them.

7. Do one thing at a time.

Many of us believe that we can perfectly cope with several tasks at once: talking on the phone, typing an email and doing makeup at the same time. But if you do many things at once, then none of them will be done well. Take on one task at a time to ensure you're doing everything right.

8. Get yourself a friend to whom you will “report”

If you're trying to develop one of these habits, you need to find someone to report your progress to. Schedule short, regular calls and correspondence with this person. These could be reminders or progress reports. Either way, if you know you have to report your progress to someone, you'll be more willing to make changes.

9. Schedule a regular decluttering routine.

Many people keep entire piles and even rooms of unnecessary trash. The problem is that sooner or later things can get out of control.

Schedule regular decluttering. Since at this stage you are already following your routine, you will be able to get rid of garbage on time without any problems.

10. Try to anticipate problems and consequences of your actions.

Your absent-mindedness affects those around you. If you're constantly late, your friend is probably tired of waiting for an hour at an empty restaurant table every time, and your child is upset because you're the last one to pick him up from the party. Your actions affect other people.

Understand this and start using the tips offered here.

11. Stop talking and start acting.

You won't lose weight if you just sit and complain about your overweight. You can't get better at basketball by lying on the couch watching the next episode of a reality show. In the same way, you will not get rid of absent-mindedness if you do not take any action. It’s good to talk about it, of course, but talking doesn’t solve anything. It's important to take action! It will take some effort, but if you follow the tips above, you will eventually become more organized and take control of the situation.

Hello, dear friends!

Sometimes we act strange. The body goes about its business, and the brain, meanwhile, remains in prostration, coma or on a break. Have you ever caught yourself thinking that when you come to another room for something, you panicky cannot remember why? Forgot to wish your friend a happy birthday? Didn’t you buy bread on the way home, even though you told yourself about it a billion times?

Or, opening the refrigerator door, you spend five minutes trying to understand what is actually happening and how you teleported here in the first place? Sometimes, forgotten keys at the wrong time and the eternal question: “Did I turn off the iron, stove or cat?” get boring to such an extent that we are ready to hit our foreheads on the door.

How to stop being absent-minded and learn to react faster to what is happening? How to increase attention to details and little things, without losing vigilance to more important and large-scale issues?

We blame and sin in our own memory, although the root cause of the problem does not concern it. The blame for this whole series of mistakes is absent-mindedness.

Even at school, we could plunge into the world of dreams and daydreams for a long time during the lesson. At that moment, it seemed to us that more interesting things were happening there, behind the walls or in our heads. An inattentive child, as they say, causes grief in the family. Seriously, this can really be a huge problem!

Try to complete urgent and important tasks today, otherwise they will follow you like a trail and this fun can continue for weeks until you safely forget about them.

5. Visual assistants

If you look for a hairbrush or a bag for two hours a day, then how can you become an attentive and successful person in such chaos?

Friends, this is the point.

Subscribe to my blog updates and recommend it to your friends. In the comments, tell us how you combat forgetfulness and inattention?

See you on the blog, bye-bye!