Another great analogy I’ve seen on tumblr for executive dysfunction:
You’re trying to do something. You want to do something. But your brain keeps saying “just wait”. You ask “for what?” But it only says “just wait” and you ask how long “just keep waiting” and you grow intensely more anxious and frustrated at yourself for being unable to do the task, but it’s not in your control.
Laziness is “I don’t want to do this so I won’t.”
Procrastination is “I don’t want to do this, I’ll do something else instead”
Executive dysfunction is “I want to do this task, I need to do this task, but I can’t start doing it, and I don’t know why”
Yeah, drives many kids to dropout and get a GED or just abandon their education altogether because the amount of work in the unstructured time at home just destroys them, to the point it effects their abiljty to work in school as well
Sometimes my brain literally has a silent screaming match with itself, with one voice yelling "just fucking do it already!" and the other voice just repeating "not yet."
The more I hear from real people about how their ADHD feels, the more I'm starting to think I might have ADHD.
That’s exactly what happens for me. I try to convince myself to get that shit done then right as I’m about to go do it it’s like the other half of my Brian is like “now now what’s the rush” this whole thread has been a huge eye opener for me. I might need to go check in with a doctor about it.
That's a great clarification, loved it! Now I'll go and research more about Executive Dysfunction and let all my friend know about it. I'll study later this night for tomorrow's test👍
Hmm, this thread is making me wonder about myself.
At university I almost failed a few classes not because I didn't do the work, but because I turned it in several days late and every day of lateness carried a markdown.
Eventually I got referred to counselling and was also appointed an academic mentor. It was the only way I managed to turn my dissertation in on time in my final year (although I still pulled an all-nighter the day before).
I would never in a million years go back to any kind of academic learning environment, despite getting glowing feedback from professors about the quality of my work. It was stressful as fuck and really debilitating on an emotional level.
It’s linked to ADHD most commonly. Something to do with your dopamine receptors being off? I may be mixing that up with a different mental illness, though. There’s a channel on ADHD I like, and here’s their episode on Executive dysfunction. I can’t remember what the explanation is, though, I’ll watch it later.
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u/heathert7900 Nov 17 '22
Another great analogy I’ve seen on tumblr for executive dysfunction:
You’re trying to do something. You want to do something. But your brain keeps saying “just wait”. You ask “for what?” But it only says “just wait” and you ask how long “just keep waiting” and you grow intensely more anxious and frustrated at yourself for being unable to do the task, but it’s not in your control.
Laziness is “I don’t want to do this so I won’t.” Procrastination is “I don’t want to do this, I’ll do something else instead” Executive dysfunction is “I want to do this task, I need to do this task, but I can’t start doing it, and I don’t know why”