Executive Functioning and Psychotherapy

Cozolino, Drulis, and Trissler set out a neurodynamic account of executive functioning, treating it not as a fixed cognitive capacity housed in the prefrontal cortex but as an emergent property of interacting brain systems. They distinguish three executive networks and trace how each shapes attention, focus, and problem solving, then argue that these systems operate through the body, through affect, and through relationship rather than in cold isolation. Cognition, emotion, and connection are read as a single functioning whole.

For the consulting room, the authors reframe difficulties often filed under distraction, avoidance, or poor regulation as expressions of how these systems coordinate under stress. The clinician gains a vocabulary for what clients struggle to organise and a rationale for interventions that engage the relationship itself as a regulatory resource. The reach extends into coaching, parenting, and everyday adaptation, though the centre of gravity stays with the working therapist.