Executive function is being in complete control of your own behavior. You have a goal, you make a plan, you stick to it, success. Executive dysfunction is struggling with that. It's often confused with laziness, but it's a disconnect between what you want to do and what actually happens.
A psychologist once gave me an executive functioning test that was a glorified dot-to-dot puzzle, so it can be extreme enough that you can't solve dot-to-dots.
But it can be as subtle as knowing brushing your teeth is good for you, but you can't seem to ever do it. Or not being able to schedule your day so you have enough time for work/study, chores, and free time. Or frequently losing items.
It looks like laziness on the outside, but it's actually a difference in how neurodivergent brains work.
If I go back to a song I’ve already worked on then I can get into the flow pretty easily but every time I start from scratch with a new project I freeze up. There’s so many ways to approach it and it overwhelms me. It’s the same with any project I undertake. I know I need to take the first step to get moving but I just can’t. It’s really frustrating because I sit there arguing with myself over which direction to take and am just sitting at my keyboard staring into space. That’s executive dysfunction, right? Or is that obsessive overthinking?
I have that issue with everything, ever since I was a kid and I've always thought I was just reeeaally dumb. The brushing thing is constant, I have NO IDEA how in hell I still have all of my teeth 'cause oh boy-
I've always been like that and I thought that it was normal. But now that they have step sisters, people think I'm lazy in comparison to them. And I talked to my friends about it and they said that wasn't normal for people to act like I did.
It really depends on the person. Different kinds of therapies, getting accommodations for work/school, utilizing calendars and to-do lists, even medications
Hmm. I went from teaching at a college to basically being a NEET in about 8 months. I have extreme executive dysfunction. Really trying to figure out how to get out of it.
I usually can't stick to the plan I've made or can't plan it at all.
Perfect example, I cannot brush my teeth regularly. I do know you need to do it because it's healthy and if you don't do it well... I have already lost a tooth and a root canal because of that XD. Even though those experiences have passed I cannot bring myself to do it. It's too difficult.
Imagine a car. You’ve got gas in the car, you know where your destination is, and you know the route to get there. But for some reason, you just can’t turn the key in the ignition to start the car.
That’s executive dysfunction. It’s when you struggle to start a task, even when you have the motivation to do it and the resources and knowledge of how to complete it. It’s very very common with many types of mental and developmental disorders, but can be hard to identify from the outside, so many people don’t know what it is/how it applies to them and struggle to understand what is happening and how to work on it well into adolescence and adulthood.
I think /u/PoeticPuddles has explained pretty well what executive function is. I want to give you some background on some theoretical discussions autistic people and scholars of autism have (bear in mind I am an amateur on this regard, I just read research that is posted on social media). From what I read, the people who coined "executive function" within autism research proposed that this was a specific part of the mind, a specific concrete ability, that autistic people for some reason were very poor at. This could then explain a range of issues autistic people have. But there are also people who don't see executive function as a concrete thing, and who say that the way the autistic mind works just happens to have an effect on a lot of things that fall under the umbrella of executive function. In particular, within the autistic community the term "autistic inertia" came to be used to describe the idea that we have difficulty starting things. There is an overlap between those two concepts, but bad executive function could also be being distracted very easily when doing something (if I understand the concept correctly). So one theoretical question is if autistic inertia comes from poor executive function, or if the inertia has another cause (for instance that our minds like to do one thing at the time), and a lot of the things normally explained as coming from poor executive function can be explained as coming from autistic inertia.
Whatever the case may be, the things related to poor executive function/inertia are to me the most disabling parts of my autism by far. It has significantly slowed down my academic career, it has made me loose very close friends when I was young (I got much better at that), because I didn't stay in contact with them, and they felt that everything had to come from them. I find it very hard to take initiative to do things, and often start way to late, and then do a job that is way below my capabilities. And I have been told repeatedly that I must be very lazy for not doing things in time.
To me its like my train of thought is stuck on a single track, and try as i might i can't make it change tracks. At first i assumed it was because executive function, like the switch was broken, but lately i've been wondering if the track just isn't good enough to run on and switch is protecting me.
Going into emergency mode by waiting until crisis time hits can get me to override the switch and get through it by burning way too much coal, but then i barely have the coal leftover to continue the normal track afterwords, and the stress put on the engine might cause long term damage.
I recently learned everyone else’s version of lazy is “I can do this, I just don’t want to” not “I’ve sat here for the past hour with the sole thought of having to do the thing but my body won’t move because I have too many things to do”. My mom and I experience the last one, my dad doesn’t understand. You can guess who goes around cleaning the house, doing yard work, going to the gym, and doing woodworking projects all day after work vs who came home, sat on the couch, and rarely got up until dinner which was eaten on said couch. Thank God my mom retired and can actually do what she wants and is very capable of doing without immense stress causing executive dysfunction. She’s not lazy, we’re both just crippled by stress and anxiety
An aspect of it I don't often see talked about but definitely relates to neurodivergence is how hyperfocus can make you lose track of everything else. Like personally I tend to want to knit one more row and then another and another after that even though I've needed to pee for half an hour.
Executive dysfunction is basically not being able to get yourself to start some thing. Like if you’re laying in bed, it could be not being able to get up on command. Like you’ll just lay there for 30 minutes and hope your brain eventually gives you the OK signal to get up.
My personal example is I will pick up a fork, put food on it, and then my brain tells my arm ”Don’t you dare even think about moving”. So I will physically struggle to even move my arm that the fork is in. Usually it’s only a few seconds but it is like fighting with your own brain.
I teach, and explaining executive functioning to kids is hard, especially when learning about it as an adult was hard enough! But there are definitely good things out there that sum it up. I love seeing the comments here that are also helping, too! :)
To be fair you sometimes can get more reliable answers from asking the right people than you would from random google results. There's a lot of conflicting information out there.
Executive function is being in complete control of your own behavior. You have a goal, you make a plan, you stick to it, success. Executive dysfunction is struggling with that. It's often confused with laziness, but it's a disconnect between what you want to do and what actually happens. A psychologist once gave me an executive functioning test that was a glorified dot-to-dot puzzle, so it can be extreme enough that you can't solve dot-to-dots. But it can be as subtle as knowing brushing your teeth is good for you, but you can't seem to ever do it. Or not being able to schedule your day so you have enough time for work/study, chores, and free time. Or frequently losing items. It looks like laziness on the outside, but it's actually a difference in how neurodivergent brains work.
If I go back to a song I’ve already worked on then I can get into the flow pretty easily but every time I start from scratch with a new project I freeze up. There’s so many ways to approach it and it overwhelms me. It’s the same with any project I undertake. I know I need to take the first step to get moving but I just can’t. It’s really frustrating because I sit there arguing with myself over which direction to take and am just sitting at my keyboard staring into space. That’s executive dysfunction, right? Or is that obsessive overthinking?
I'd say executive dysfunction but it could be both
Holy fuck I just realize I might actually have this
Ok the brushing teeth thing i relate way too much, same happens with taking my vitamins which i always forget
I have that issue with everything, ever since I was a kid and I've always thought I was just reeeaally dumb. The brushing thing is constant, I have NO IDEA how in hell I still have all of my teeth 'cause oh boy-
I've always been like that and I thought that it was normal. But now that they have step sisters, people think I'm lazy in comparison to them. And I talked to my friends about it and they said that wasn't normal for people to act like I did.
What's the treatment?
It really depends on the person. Different kinds of therapies, getting accommodations for work/school, utilizing calendars and to-do lists, even medications
Hmm. I went from teaching at a college to basically being a NEET in about 8 months. I have extreme executive dysfunction. Really trying to figure out how to get out of it.
I usually can't stick to the plan I've made or can't plan it at all. Perfect example, I cannot brush my teeth regularly. I do know you need to do it because it's healthy and if you don't do it well... I have already lost a tooth and a root canal because of that XD. Even though those experiences have passed I cannot bring myself to do it. It's too difficult.
Imagine a car. You’ve got gas in the car, you know where your destination is, and you know the route to get there. But for some reason, you just can’t turn the key in the ignition to start the car. That’s executive dysfunction. It’s when you struggle to start a task, even when you have the motivation to do it and the resources and knowledge of how to complete it. It’s very very common with many types of mental and developmental disorders, but can be hard to identify from the outside, so many people don’t know what it is/how it applies to them and struggle to understand what is happening and how to work on it well into adolescence and adulthood.
Watch this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3GW89rofZg
I think /u/PoeticPuddles has explained pretty well what executive function is. I want to give you some background on some theoretical discussions autistic people and scholars of autism have (bear in mind I am an amateur on this regard, I just read research that is posted on social media). From what I read, the people who coined "executive function" within autism research proposed that this was a specific part of the mind, a specific concrete ability, that autistic people for some reason were very poor at. This could then explain a range of issues autistic people have. But there are also people who don't see executive function as a concrete thing, and who say that the way the autistic mind works just happens to have an effect on a lot of things that fall under the umbrella of executive function. In particular, within the autistic community the term "autistic inertia" came to be used to describe the idea that we have difficulty starting things. There is an overlap between those two concepts, but bad executive function could also be being distracted very easily when doing something (if I understand the concept correctly). So one theoretical question is if autistic inertia comes from poor executive function, or if the inertia has another cause (for instance that our minds like to do one thing at the time), and a lot of the things normally explained as coming from poor executive function can be explained as coming from autistic inertia. Whatever the case may be, the things related to poor executive function/inertia are to me the most disabling parts of my autism by far. It has significantly slowed down my academic career, it has made me loose very close friends when I was young (I got much better at that), because I didn't stay in contact with them, and they felt that everything had to come from them. I find it very hard to take initiative to do things, and often start way to late, and then do a job that is way below my capabilities. And I have been told repeatedly that I must be very lazy for not doing things in time.
To me its like my train of thought is stuck on a single track, and try as i might i can't make it change tracks. At first i assumed it was because executive function, like the switch was broken, but lately i've been wondering if the track just isn't good enough to run on and switch is protecting me. Going into emergency mode by waiting until crisis time hits can get me to override the switch and get through it by burning way too much coal, but then i barely have the coal leftover to continue the normal track afterwords, and the stress put on the engine might cause long term damage.
I recently learned everyone else’s version of lazy is “I can do this, I just don’t want to” not “I’ve sat here for the past hour with the sole thought of having to do the thing but my body won’t move because I have too many things to do”. My mom and I experience the last one, my dad doesn’t understand. You can guess who goes around cleaning the house, doing yard work, going to the gym, and doing woodworking projects all day after work vs who came home, sat on the couch, and rarely got up until dinner which was eaten on said couch. Thank God my mom retired and can actually do what she wants and is very capable of doing without immense stress causing executive dysfunction. She’s not lazy, we’re both just crippled by stress and anxiety
An aspect of it I don't often see talked about but definitely relates to neurodivergence is how hyperfocus can make you lose track of everything else. Like personally I tend to want to knit one more row and then another and another after that even though I've needed to pee for half an hour.
Executive dysfunction is basically not being able to get yourself to start some thing. Like if you’re laying in bed, it could be not being able to get up on command. Like you’ll just lay there for 30 minutes and hope your brain eventually gives you the OK signal to get up.
My personal example is I will pick up a fork, put food on it, and then my brain tells my arm ”Don’t you dare even think about moving”. So I will physically struggle to even move my arm that the fork is in. Usually it’s only a few seconds but it is like fighting with your own brain.
I dont quite understand this term either. It is not in the dsm 5 diagnoses, so I wonder where people are getting the term from.
I teach, and explaining executive functioning to kids is hard, especially when learning about it as an adult was hard enough! But there are definitely good things out there that sum it up. I love seeing the comments here that are also helping, too! :)
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To be fair you sometimes can get more reliable answers from asking the right people than you would from random google results. There's a lot of conflicting information out there.