The main characteristic of the ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) patient is that their brains send impulses for hyperactivity and anxiety more often than a normal brain would. They might find the ordinary world, in which you have to go to school or to work and sit there quietly for many hours as extremely annoying. And, of course, very hard to achieve such a balanced state of mind needed for this type of activities.
Video games, on the other hand, might offer them what the real world cannot. And that is the thrill their brain needs to feel in its environment.
Just think about the time when you played and exciting video game. Remember the times when the virtual story made you forget about your real background and made you play furthermore to see how the story goes. It is the same thing with ADHD people, with mentioning that their minds react even more to those thrilling stimuli.
What is the connection between video games and ADHD?
You might think that the source of such intense stimuli can also be a cause for triggering ADHD, especially in young children. Thinking about the fact that children today prefer to play video games inside the house than rather go outside and play ball with their friends, might give us something to think about.
I must tell you that you are mistaking if you consider video games a cause for ADHD. The truth is that neither video games nor TV can be considered triggers for this mental disorder as medical studies show. The reason ADHD children, even adults, are spending more time than the average person in front of a computer playing video games, is that this type of activity gives them what their minds asks.
Thinking of the fact that ADHD children usually have no patience to stay still or finish what they started, you might consider quite fascinating that they can sit still in front of a screen.
The explanation for this is that video games, and TV shows, are constantly shifting the subject, or point of interest, and they have to react quickly. Stimulating them to think faster leaves them no time to let their mind fly to anything else. In the video game if you don’t figure out what to do faster, you will lose the level up.
Do video games help improve focus?
Since focusing on a single task may be the most difficult thing for an ADHD patient, you might think that focusing on playing video games might train this ability.
Unfortunately, this activity does not pay back the result we are all expecting. The focus of the ADHD people when playing video games is just superficial, because it is represented by continuous bursts of attention generated by the constant shifts in the task of the competition. They are continually motivated to follow the mission and receive a reward.
And to keep the focus of the player, video games make these steps of playing and receiving rewards be short and often, so they do not have time to get bored. In real life, rewards don’t come that easy, this is why regular activities do not look that appealing to ADHD persons, causing them to lose interest in them quickly.
I.e. The alert rhythm of the video game is the exact environment an ADHD brain needs to feel at home.
