Feb 8

Executive Dysfunction and ADHD

Regulation and an ADHD brain

ADHD is actually really poorly named because an ADHD brain doesn’t always have a LACK or DEFICIT of attention – in fact sometimes it hyperfocuses. The problem is in regulating its attention. An ADHD brain also doesn’t always have TOO MUCH action or hyperactivity, sometime it can’t get going at all – The problem is in regulating its action.

In fact, ADHD brains struggle to regulate a lot of things: things like attention, energy, effort, emotions, and all of its other resources- it struggles to figure out how much of any of these resources it should give, it doesn’t give just a little- instead, it goes all in or all out. Psychologists call these regulation skills- executive functions and they are the heart of the issue with ADHD

What is Executive Functioning

Imagine that your brain is an orchestra. All of your brain’s abilities and functions are individual members of that orchestra. Your ability to put ideas together is the violin, your ability to play with words is the saxophone, your ability to recognize shapes and manipulate them in your head is the piano, and so on. Each individual ability has its own instrument and its own piece to play in any given composition.

The executive functioning system is the conductor. This is part of the brain that tells the others when to start, when to stop, to work harder, to ease up, get faster or go slower. This is the part that tells one section to stop playing together while another section builds. The conductor makes sure everyone is on the same page, is playing the same song and he leads the group so that they can work together.

What is Executive Dysfunction?

Have you ever heard an orchestra warm-up and tune-up? It’s not a horrible sound, but it’s also not what you pay to listen to. Each individual player is focused on their own instrument - they are each immensely talented and yet as they all play their own tunes, the group as a whole is just a bunch of noise.

The ADHD brain has a conductor that doesn’t have enough energy. It’s not that there is no conductor at all (though after a long hard day it may seem that way) No, the ADHD conductor just has less energy than he needs to in order to do all the work he’s supposed to.

So, what happens when that conductor is exhausted and asleep at the podium?Then, those individual orchestra members are on their own. And even if they’re the most talented musicians in the world -the music that comes from that orchestra is going to start to leave a lot to be desired.

Treating executive dysfunction

So, what can we do to help that conductor?

Powering Up:

First, we want to give it as much power as we can. Like the battery on your computer or the gas tank in your car, you want to power up that conductor as much as possible for the long task ahead. You do this with self-care: sleep, exercise, medication, nutrition and meditation. All of these things make sure that the conductor is starting each piece with the most energy possible.

Take it off:

Next, we want to take as much off the conductor’s plate as possible. So, maybe someone else could take a song, or for some songs, the proccussion section doesn’t need as much attention.

In the world of the ADHD brain, this is done by habit creation, routine building, distraction management, system building and environmental management. The idea is to decrease the number of times you utilize the executive functioning system by either outsourcing, eliminating, or diminishing the number of tasks it has to do.

So, don’t forget about your conductor. Give him as much energy as you can and make his job as easy as possible. Because when he’s at his best your orchestra can make use of all of the talents it has within.

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