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Executive Function Deep Dive: Emotional Management

Executive Function Deep Dive: Emotional Management

Feel It Without Falling Apart: ADHD, Emotional Management, and the Myth of Stoicism

Someone told to stay calm, be professional, and don’t take things personally. But for ADHD professionals with reactive nervous systems, emotional regulation is a survival skill.

In this episode, we dismantle the cultural obsession with stoicism, clarify what emotional regulation actually is, and unpack why traditional advice fails the ADHD brain.

We cover:

  • The cultural lie of stoicism as emotional strength
  • How emotional suppression leads to executive dysfunction, not composure
  • The difference between awareness, expression, intensity, and regulation
  • Why emotional regulation relies on executive function and where ADHD disrupts it
  • The neurobiology of fast feelings and the reality of amygdala hijack
  • What ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) offers ADHDers that other frameworks don’t
  • Concrete practices for emotional containment, not erasure External scaffolds for ADHD emotional recovery and regulation
  • What to do when you’ve already lost access to your tools How to rebuild self-trust after dysregulation without shame

This episode is not about becoming less emotional. It’s about building the capacity to lead, respond, and recover while feeling everything - without letting it destroy your credibility, your relationships, or your nervous system.

Ready to get more specific about your particular flavour of ADHD?

Check out the Executive Function Inventory. - Where are you right now on each of the 12 executive functions. An inventory that identifies which EFs are challenges (that need to be bolstered), adaptive (you've built accommodations for yourself), and strengths (to leverage to support your challenges. If you know, you can be intentional. https://www.mineelachand.com/adhd-adults-efi

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