i'm pushing 40 and have only recently been given an informal diagnosis (seeking out a formal diagnosis currently) from my therapist of ADHD, so it's all new to me and changing the way i look at my behaviors and patterns. i've been thinking about this distinction between executive dysfunction and depression quite a bit lately and wanted to bring it to other folks who have a better grasp on how their ADHD impacts them and see if this resonates or if i'm maybe not hitting the mark.
i have two different things that i've always identified as 'depression', one that includes the sads, and one that doesn't but has the same low energy and inability to get anything done without external pressure to move me forward. the impact is very, very similar, but the feeling is very different. with the one that includes being sad, it's that sadness that's the driving force behind my inability to move. for the one that doesn't, it's just.... i don't know how to describe it, it's just an inability to get myself to take action.
i'm in the middle of an episode of the second one now. i find myself listless, bored but can't get myself to do anything about it, hungry but nothing sounds good when i think about the steps it takes to get it, and it's when my memory is the worst and i most often find myself misplacing things, unable to focus, or doing that thing that Hal does in that one Malcom in the Middle cold open when he goes to replace a lightbulb but is working on the car when Lois gets home. this doesn't feel like a good description, but that's how i feel about literally everything i do or talk about when i'm feeling like this, so i hope it's coming across ok.
does this sound like there's a differentiation between the two to ya'll? anyone feel similarly?
They are closely linked conditions. I do not have anxiety or depression, but my undiagnosed and then untreated ADHD was causing me both conditions.
They are separate things but they are intertwined, so much so that ADHD very frequently comes with a dual diagnosis of one or more other conditions, or is confused/commingled with eg. autism. A proper assessment can disentangle them and reach the correct diagnosis.
Maybe I’ll start pressing for a comprehensive neuropsych evaluation. My biggest concern in talking with therapists is that I am never able to bring the whole story together. My last psychologist decided that everything I have dealt with over the course of my whole life had to do with the poor sleep of gotten over the two week before we met. So maybe a better psychologist will help too lol
Sorry, meant to say that executive dysfunction and depression are separate but can be intertwined. I think I was unclear.