Hypoprosexia: symptoms, causes and treatment

Attention capacity is essential in the course of our daily lives, it allows us to focus on something consciously and continuously over time. Attention is one of the basic cognitive functions of the human mind, along with memory, perception, and sensation.

There are many conditions that can affect attention, either making it worse or better. Attention disorders appear when attention levels have decreased enough to be considered deficient. Attention disturbances are classified into two types: quantitative and qualitative.

In Quantitative Attention Disorders, the ability to pay attention is excessive or deficient. In qualitative type disorders, the quality of care or the same form are altered, people fail to correctly synthesize what they capture through attention.

When attention is diminished, the diagnosis is hypoprosexia, which encompasses different alterations . In this article we will talk about the different conditions that cause hypoprosexia, but first we will make a brief introduction about attention and its disorders.

Hypoprosexia and attention disorders

Attention is the process of focusing on one particular thing while ignoring other things; it is a cognitive function and is closely related to consciousness . According to Bleuler, attention is when something (ideas, impressions…) arouses our interest and we focus on those things, leaving everything else out. Attention does not have only one form, different types of attention have been described, such as sustained attention, selective attention and divided attention, among others.

Extending its description, attention is the process that allows us to focus on relevant information, ignoring irrelevant information to carry out our actions. Attention is a cognitive process that can generate, select, direct and maintain the level of activation necessary to process information that is important to us. It acts as a filter to focus on important information . Mindfulness helps us focus on the task at hand to learn as much as possible and avoid making mistakes.

Effects of hypoprosexia

Attention may be altered. There are many things that can affect the functioning of attention and affect the decision of what to pay attention to and for how long, these factors can come from the environment (external) or from the person and, therefore, depend on each individual.

Disturbance in attention can also be pathological. There are different diseases related to attention, either because you cannot pay enough attention, or pay too much, or because the capacity is not working properly.

Attention disorders have been investigated for many years. Today theories continue to change as new evidence emerges. Classically, attention disorders have been classified as hypoprosexia, aprosexia, pseudoprosexia, paraprosexia, and hyperprosexia . We will briefly explain the latter, and then detail hypoprosexia in depth.

1. Aprosexia

People with aprosexia exhibit total inattention ; it is the greatest reduction of the attentional focus.

2. Pseudoaprosexias

People do not pay attention to the environment , although the attention span is not affected.

3. Paraprosexias

People with paraprosexia focus attention in an abnormal way .

4. Hiperprosexias

People excessively and temporarily focus attention.

Hypoprosexia and its effects

Hypoprosexia, or attentional distractibility, is a disorder that involves a decreased attentional capacity . This disorder occurs frequently, but is considered not very pathological.

Distracted attention is a disorder in which a person has difficulty concentrating on one thing for an extended period of time, their attention shifts from one thing to another, and they are easily distracted. This disorder often appears frequently in people who have depression, schizophrenia or intellectual disability.

Hypoprosexia involves a continual change in the element of focus, attention, or mental engagement . There is also usually a constant change in the course of thoughts and the mechanism by which ideas are associated, which together constitute a flight of ideas. People who have mania or other disorders often have hypoprosexia.