Executive Dysfunction - Executive Dysfunction in Clinical Populations

Executive Dysfunction in Clinical Populations

The executive system's broad range of functions relies on, and is instrumental in, a broad range of neurocognitive processes. Clinical presentation of severe executive dysfunction that is unrelated a specific disease or disorder is classified as a dysexecutive syndrome, and often appears following damage to the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex. As a result, Executive dysfunction is implicated etiologically and/or co-morbidly in many psychiatric illnesses, which often show the same symptoms as the dysexecutive syndrome. It has been assessed and researched extensively in relation to cognitive developmental disorders, psychotic disorders, affective disorders, and conduct disorders, as well as neurodegenerative diseases and acquired brain injury (ABI).

Environmental dependency syndrome is a dysexecutive syndrome marked by significant behavioural dependence on environmental cues and is marked by excessive imitation and utilization behaviour. It has been observed in patients with a variety of etiologies including ABI, exposure to phendimetrazine tartrate, stroke, and various frontal lobe lesions.