Difficulty concentrating - Causes and Symptoms

Definition

Attention is a psychic function that directs and focuses conscious mental activity on certain stimuli, elements or aspects of a particular situation. Attention capacity is extremely variable and depends on environmental conditions, mood, degree of stress and age.

The difficulty of concentration is, therefore, the result of fluctuations, deviations or radical alterations of this mental activity and it occurs especially when the motivation and interest in objects or very specific subjects are lacking. This symptom recognizes multiple causes and can be associated with a number of other disorders, such as short-term memory loss and the difficulty of developing a concept clearly, of listening and of formulating words.

Concentration difficulties can occur in cases of iron deficiency anemia and various neurological diseases (such as Alzheimer's disease). Furthermore, it is one of the psychic symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders. In some cases, it depends on lack of sleep or stress.

Acute alcohol intoxication reduces concentration, just as chronic alcoholism and drug use (eg heroin and cocaine) involve permanent brain damage that compromises cognitive activities. Concentration difficulties can also represent the side effect of certain drugs, such as anxiolytics.

In children, concentration problems can occur in the presence of intestinal parasites; in this case restlessness, sleep disturbances, pallor and enuresis often appear.

Moreover, in the pediatric age the inability to pay attention is one of the symptoms of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and is associated with hyperexcitability, excessive aggression, impulsive and impetuous behavior and lack of discipline.