Focus suppression

Focus suppression (also known as distractability[1]) is medically recognized as a decreased ability to selectively concentrate on an aspect of the environment while ignoring other things.[2][3] It can be best characterized by feelings of intense distractability which can prevent one from focusing on and performing basic tasks that would usually be relatively easy to not get distracted from.[4] This effect will often synergize with other coinciding effects such as motivation suppression, thought deceleration, and sedation.[5]

Focus suppression is often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as sedation, motivation suppression, and creativity suppression. It is most commonly induced under the influence of moderate or heavy dosages of antipsychotics,[6] benzodiazepines, cannabinoids,[5] and hallucinogens. However, it is worth noting that stimulant compounds which primarily induce focus enhancement at light to moderate dosages will also often lead into focus suppression at their heavier dosages.[7]

Psychoactive substances

Compounds within our psychoactive substance index which may cause this effect include:

Experience reports

Annectdotal reports which describe this effect with our experience index include:

See also

External links

References

  1. "Glossary of Technical Terms". Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.): 820. 2013. doi:10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.GlossaryofTechnicalTerms. 
  2. Lleras, Alejandro; Buetti, Simona; Mordkoff, J. Toby (2013). "When Do the Effects of Distractors Provide a Measure of Distractibility?". 59: 261–315. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-407187-2.00007-1. ISSN 0079-7421. 
  3. Ahveninen, Jyrki; Jaaskelainen, Iiro P.; Pekkonen, Eero; Hallberg, Anja; Hietanen, Marja; Naatanen, Risto; Schroger, Erich; Sillanaukee, Pekka (2000). "Increased Distractibility by Task-Irrelevant Sound Changes in Abstinent Alcoholics". Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 24 (12): 1850–1854. doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.2000.tb01989.x. ISSN 0145-6008. 
  4. McCarthy, Danielle E.; Gloria, Rebecca; Curtin, John J. (2009). "Attention bias in nicotine withdrawal and under stress". Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. 23 (1): 77–90. doi:10.1037/a0014288. ISSN 1939-1501. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Kowal, Mikael A.; Hazekamp, Arno; Colzato, Lorenza S.; van Steenbergen, Henk; van der Wee, Nic J. A.; Durieux, Jeffrey; Manai, Meriem; Hommel, Bernhard (2014). "Cannabis and creativity: highly potent cannabis impairs divergent thinking in regular cannabis users". Psychopharmacology. 232 (6): 1123–1134. doi:10.1007/s00213-014-3749-1. ISSN 0033-3158. 
  6. Vigen, Cheryl L.P.; Mack, Wendy J.; Keefe, Richard S.E.; Sano, Mary; Sultzer, David L.; Stroup, T. Scott; Dagerman, Karen S.; Hsiao, John K.; Lebowitz, Barry D.; Lyketsos, Constantine G.; Tariot, Pierre N.; Zheng, Ling; Schneider, Lon S. (2011). "Cognitive Effects of Atypical Antipsychotic Medications in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease: Outcomes From CATIE-AD". American Journal of Psychiatry. 168 (8): 831–839. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.08121844. ISSN 0002-953X. 
  7. Salo, Ruth; Nordahl, Thomas E.; Natsuaki, Yutaka; Leamon, Martin H.; Galloway, Gantt P.; Waters, Christy; Moore, Charles D.; Buonocore, Michael H. (2007). "Attentional Control and Brain Metabolite Levels in Methamphetamine Abusers". Biological Psychiatry. 61 (11): 1272–1280. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.07.031. ISSN 0006-3223.