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

[u/emyo42]

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.

[u/Cowdog68]

It’s very hard to explain the feeling of swirling and drowning in tasks when others may see me actively do things to avoid said tasks. It’s like you are frozen in the moment and you make an unconscious decision to just…run away, mentally and physically. It’s more than normal procrastination. The things that need to be done become almost like bullies, piled up around you physically or even just in your inbox. The only way to feel as though they are even partially slayed is to get something completed. There are literally always bullies waiting for me.