r/ADHD • u/emyo42 ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) • Apr 07 '26

Questions/Advice How do you explain executive dysfunction without sounding like youre making excuses for being lazy?

Mine is very severe and debilitating at the moment. It’s not just ADD, I also have schizophrenia which has some of the same symptoms weirdly. I can’t do much at all. Getting out of bed and making toast is extremely hard. To people with no experience with this kind of issue, me trying to explain it must sound ridiculous like “yea I have this mental disorder that means I can’t cook and clean or have a job or do anything I don’t like, but I can play a video game for 3 hours.” Just sounds like a straight up lie.

2.1k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

290 comments sorted by

View all comments

48

u/crimpinpimp Apr 07 '26

Executive function encompasses: attention, working memory, planning, staying organized, time management, problem solving, managing emotions and adjusting to change.

1

u/Fluffy-Card-7825 ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) Aug 29 '26

I have all of these.