What is executive dysfunction?
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It’s a cognitive dysfunction that makes it difficult for individuals to commit to and complete tasks. They know they have to do it, they know how to do it, but they’re just not able to, or it’s really hard for them.
It’s when the part of your brain that decides what the rest of your brain should be doing doesn’t work properly.
I want to tell you, i know I should, but I’m not going to because trying to causes me anxiety
It first pays to know what executive function is. Straight from Wiki:
> In cognitive science and neuropsychology, executive functions (collectively referred to as executive function and cognitive control) are a set of cognitive processes that are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior: selecting and successfully monitoring behaviors that facilitate the attainment of chosen goals. Executive functions include basic cognitive processes such as attentional control, cognitive inhibition, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Higher-order executive functions require the simultaneous use of multiple basic executive functions and include planning and fluid intelligence (e.g., reasoning and problem-solving).
So executive dysfunction is an inhibition of that.
Imagine your brain as a workplace with lots of employees that do different things
Executive function is like the “manager”, they decide what tasks should be prioritized based on information they receive. Yes there’s tasks that most parts do without the manager telling them explicitly, but when information comes in that necessitates focus be shifted from normal duties to take care of something in particular, it’s this “manager” that makes those decisions
This controls things like what you focus on, prioritize, etc
You’ve likely heard of executive functioning in the context of ADHD being about having poor executive functioning. This is why those with ADHD struggle to focus or prioritize well, and why they’re prone to hyper focus on certain things. It’s like the “manager” is showing up to work after a long night with too little sleep and isn’t exactly at the top of their game with decision making, so they may be prone to making poor decisions on what to focus on. This is also why stimulants are prescribed for ADHD, it’s like giving that sleepy manager a cup of coffee so they’re more awake and able to perform their job better
“Executive function” is the part of your mind that helps you to decide which jobs you need to do first and which jobs can wait until later. For example, if you’re trying to fill out a form while someone is asking you a question, executive function helps you ignore the question for a moment while you finish the form.
Executive dysfunction means that the executive function doesn’t work well, so you get distracted by the question and forget what you were putting into the form. Most people get better at executive function as they grow up, but people with executive dysfunction get better at it more slowly or, sometimes, hardly get better at all.
Executive dysfunction is one of the common symptoms of ADHD, which is why so many students with ADHD have a hard time in school. It’s hard to focus on learning when you can’t stop thinking about all the other things that are going on in the classroom at the same time.
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https://youtu.be/H4YIHrEu-TU Jessica McCabe of How To ADHD breaks it down better than I can. But in brief, a neurotypical brain can decide that things are important. Like cleaning your room is more important than looking up what movies and tv shows an actor was in, right? But the ADHD brain doesn’t handle that and either lets everything in or nothing in.
If your brain were a smartphone, executive dysfunction is a bit like having a limited and unpredictable ability to switch between apps.
So, imagine you can usually open an app when you want, but after a little while your phone will forcibly switch you to some other app. And even if you notice and try to switch back, it switches you again, maybe to a new third app. You don’t know when it will switch you, and you don’t know how long it will take you to even notice that it switched you.
Then sometimes maybe it won’t let you switch apps at all. You’re stuck in one thing, spending way too much time on it, not switching to anything else.
And maybe other times nothing opens. Or when it does open, it won’t function. It’s like frozen, or stuck on a loading page.
And in some cases, it’s like your phone forgets stuff you entered. You set a reminder to do something, but your phone quietly deletes it or turns it off. Maybe you use a calendar app, but your events sometimes get deleted.
Executive dysfunction refers to an executive member of a large corporate or company that is “not staying up enough.” This can be devastating because the executive cannot ”control his stuff” so it is “harder for him to spew out” some advice.
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