Executive functioning?
The brain is an incredibly powerful tool, powered by cognitive processes that are responsible for regulating our emotional responses, controlling our behaviors, and carrying out everything from simple routine tasks to complex problem solving.
From a young age, we begin developing executive functioning skills as we explore the world around us and absorb new experiences. As we age, these skills grow and develop at an accelerated pace, allowing us to successfully navigate life’s transitions, challenges, and unexpected twists and turns.
But what happens when there is a persistent problem with the brain’s executive functioning abilities?
Symptoms of Executive Dysfunction
Healthy executive functioning impacts all areas of life, including career, social connections, parenting, interpersonal relationships, romantic relationships, academic pursuits, and day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. Our executive functioning skills give us the ability to concentrate, focus, adapt, make plans, achieve our goals, and control and monitor our behaviors.
Below are some of the most common symptoms that individuals with executive functioning problems may experience:
· Forgetting to complete tasks
· Inability to keep track of personal items like keys and cell phones
· Trouble following conversations
· Losing train of thought
· Difficulty remembering steps in a multi-step process
· Inability to remember names
· Often late
· Problems breaking big projects into steps
· Trouble meeting deadlines
· Inability to multitask
· Difficulty remembering abbreviations and acronyms
Does Anxiety Play A Role In Executive Dysfunction?
Anxiety often plays a part in creating symptoms such as lack of motivation, self-confidence, self-regulation, and concentration, thereby negatively impacting the process of executive functioning. The constant worry, racing mind, and intrusive thoughts caused by anxiety may take up unnecessary space in the brain, which affects our ability to experience optimal executive functioning.
While some may write it off as simply being scatterbrained, too busy, or forgetful, the root cause of executive dysfunction may actually run much deeper. In addition to anxiety, other mental health conditions, including depression, ADHD, or PTSD, may directly cause or exacerbate problems with executive functioning.
Problems with executive functioning can also run in families, and any age or gender can be affected by the disruptive symptoms caused by executive dysfunction.
How You Can Achieve Successful Executive Functioning
At Mindful Clarity Psychotherapy, we use a combination of proven therapeutic modalities and mindfulness techniques that help to improve the executive functioning abilities of our clients. With an individualized treatment plan, we will not only help you to better utilize your learned executive functioning skills, but also develop new ways to improve and sharpen these skills over a lifetime.
Treatment modalities for executive functioning may include the following:
· Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
· Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
· Mindfulness and Energy Therapy