Executive Dysfunction
Neurological impairment in cognitive processes that organise behaviour: working memory, planning, initiation, and inhibition.
ADHDAutismExecutive FunctionCognitive Processing
Layer 1: Documented
Clinical Recognition
Extensively documented in neuropsychology. Core feature of ADHD and autism. Measured via standardised tests (BRIEF, Wisconsin Card Sort, Stroop).
Community Validation
Universal recognition. Community translates clinical term into lived experience: 'task paralysis,' 'can't make myself do the thing.'
Published
17 December 2025 by Team Heumans
Executive Dysfunction is the clinical term for when your brain can't organise itself. You know exactly what you need to do. You desperately want to do it. But the signal from "intention" to "action" is severed.
It's not laziness. It's a neurological impairment in the top-down processes that plan, initiate, and regulate behaviour. Your prefrontal cortex—the brain's project manager—is offline or understaffed, leaving the rest of your brain without direction.