Colleen Lynch

Dr. Russell Barkley reframes ADHD in a powerful way: It's not just "attention deficit" — it's a failure of persistence toward goals. He explains: ADHD disrupts specific executive functions in the frontal lobe — not perception or filtering, but sustaining action toward delayed outcomes, resisting distractions (via inhibition failure), and re-engaging after interruptions (due to working memory deficits). Key insights from the clip: - Inattentiveness in ADHD = poor goal-directed persistence (behavior, motivation, future-oriented). - Distractions aren't perceived more — people with ADHD respond to them more because they can't inhibit reactions. - Working memory loss means the goal "disappears" → easy to skip from unfinished task to unfinished task. - ADHD may be better called Executive Function Deficit Disorder (EFDD), with persistence as the core attention issue. This shifts the view from "can't pay attention" to "can't direct behavior forward in time" — a profound difference for understanding, diagnosis, and support. Ever felt this "future blindness" in daily life? How does it show up for you or someone you know? Share respectfully — open to hearing experiences!