Tl;dr: Executive Dysfunction is a problem with normal Executive Functioning (your brain’s ability to act deliberately), causing difficulty with self-direction, organization, memory, and impulse control. Multiple ways to improve executive functioning are listed below.

“Executive Dysfunction” may seem like a technical term, but it’s actually pretty easy to understand! Before diving right into it, though, it’s important to understand what normal Executive Functioning is.

Normal Executive Functioning

According to an article in Cell’s Current Biology scientific journal, executive functioning is your ability to conduct “mental operations that are used in situations where there is not a well-established stimulus-response association.” Another way to phrase this comes from ADDitude Mag, describing it as “cognitive and mental abilities that help people engage in goal-directed action.” These aren’t wrong, but I think it is a bit more useful to understand executive functioning as your ability to self-direct. This means being able to take actions and make decisions intentionally instead of reacting more automatically to your impulses or environment.

Executive function covers a variety of abilities, including:

• Self-restraint: Thinking and choosing how to respond to an impulsive desire or emotion.
• Intentional Focus: Choosing whether to focus on a given task or shift focus to something else.
• Planning & Problem-Solving: Deciding on a course of action to achieve a goal or move past a problem.
• Organization: Sorting information and objects in a way to prepare for future situations.

i The idea of a “Central Executive” is a useful simplification, but it is not technically accurate in psychological research. Instead, Executive Functioning is a conceptual model that is the sum of multiple different working parts. For more information, check out: “Retiring the Central Executive.” by Robert H. Logie

So what is Executive Dysfunction, then?

Put simply, executive dysfunction is when normal executive functioning is out of order – or, “disordered”. To use the Central Executive analogy… someone with executive dysfunction has a central executive that’s bad at their job! Unfortunately, unlike a CEO, a central executive can’t simply be fired. Instead, it is necessary to train or accommodate them.

Executive dysfunction on its own generally doesn’t reach the level of a disorder (though it definitely can!). However, it is generally a symptom of another mental condition or a result of some circumstance in a person’s life. Some mental conditions that come with executive dysfunction to varying degrees can include:

• ADHD (executive dysfunction is a core component of ADHD)
• OCD
• Depression
• PTSD
• Bipolar Disorder
• Autism Spectrum Disorder

Life circumstances resulting in executive dysfunction all fall into the same general pattern: too many things require attention at once, causing stress to a point where the person’s ability to manage them is overloaded. This applies regardless of whether a person has an additional mental condition, but mental conditions tend to make the situation even more difficult and/or are a direct physical cause of the executive dysfunction.

Impairments in working memory are commonly considered part of executive dysfunction, but they are actually distinct. For example, difficulty with intentional focus can result in more distractions and more irrelevant information filling the limited buffer of a person’s working memory. Similarly, working memory impairments can cause problems with organizing information and planning as one may not be able to keep all of the relevant information in their mind.

If you think that you struggle with executive dysfunction, try taking a test like this one from PsychologyToday or try some of these tips to improve executive dysfunction challenges.

What causes Executive Dysfunction?

As mentioned above, executive dysfunction is typically a result of being overloaded by life circumstances requiring too much attention and/or causing too much stress. Other mental conditions can also contribute to this, whether by causing stress themselves, making one more sensitive to stressors, or directly contributing to physical impairments.

Since the prefrontal cortex is strongly related to executive functioning, any damage to it can cause a lot of problems with executive functioning. Stress causes the prefrontal cortex to work less effectively as well, ultimately resulting in more executive dysfunction.

Any given person’s overall executive functioning abilities and mental conditions are also strongly affected by their genetics and environment during upbringing, with potentially long-lasting impacts throughout life.

What are some symptoms to look for?

Symptoms of executive dysfunction typically show up in a few common ways:

• Time blindness: Difficulty identifying how much time a task will take, as well as how much time a task has already taken.
• Impulsive and reactive behavior: Difficulty resisting impulsive desires, distractions, and immediate emotional responses.
• Forgetfulness: Easily forgetting prior tasks, goals, or relevant information to a given situation.
• Difficulty making decisions: Often resulting in impulsive decision-making without much planning, or decision paralysis from getting stuck while trying to plan and make a decision.

Note that these types of difficulties happen to everybody! They are typically considered dysfunctional or disordered if they are causing consistent life difficulty. This is especially true when it is to an unmanageable degree.

How can I handle Executive Dysfunction?

If you struggle with executive dysfunction, there are multiple routes to get a better handle on your life, such as:

1. Therapy
   
   Therapy is a very important part of recovery and life improvement. Mental conditions and executive dysfunction are interconnected, so proper therapy helps by improving underlying cause(s) of that dysfunction. You can compare this to an infection causing a fever: Fever medicine might help, but treating the infection itself is necessary to prevent the fever from constantly returning.
   
   Notably, therapy often comes with diagnosis of mental health conditions. Diagnosis often gives you access to medication that may help manage executive dysfunction and other conditions making it worse.
   
2. Tweak your environment
   
   Tweaking your environment is a very simple idea. Remove distractions and obstacles that get in the way of doing what you need to do. For example, keeping your desk clean of random objects and distractions helps improve focus. Also, using shelves for clothing instead of drawers makes it easier to access and put away clothes. As an extra bonus, the shelves also provide a visual reminder to take care of laundry.
   
3. Externalize your thinking
   
   Speaking goals out loud and writing them down helps establish them more firmly in your mind. Writing them down also provides a backup to recall information by looking at it. You can use many different options to supplement your memory and attention. These can be notepads, signs, sticky notes, journals, calendars, whiteboards, clocks, or other physical supports.
   
   Additionally, you can externalize motivation to help support your own internal motivations. Making yourself accountable to goals such as point systems, work and school assessments, or promises to other people can help.
   
4. Coaching
   
   Life coaching provides external support in multiple ways. First, coaching provides a source of external accountability for the goals you set in sessions. Some coaches will also provide specific guidance for handling executive dysfunction. In comparison to therapy, life coaching is similar to consistent symptom management rather than addressing baseline problem(s).
   
   Coaching is especially valuable when underlying causes are identified and addressed, but you are still having problems. It can help you identify and address specific problems in your habits or environment.
   

I provide inexpensive personal coaching for executive functioning, with additional accommodation for people with ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder. If you would like to work with me, you can schedule a free 15 minute intake appointment here.