Dr. Russell Barkley

There's a lot of strategies in my book that we could go through, but that can help.

That's great.

Number one, there is no such thing.

disorder in clinical practice that is officially recognized.

So this was invented by a particular clinician to explain the heightened emotion that people experience in their social relationships with others, particularly when those social relationships can be frustrating.

And so you get this, what he calls rejection sensitivity.

But just know this, there's no disorder, no clinician will diagnose you with that because there's no DSM disorder there.

On the other hand, do people with ADHD show a heightened emotional reaction in these situations?

The answer is yes.

But we know where that comes from.

One of the executive functions is emotional self-regulation.

And we know that ADHD individuals can't do that as well as other people.

And therefore, when they are faced with environmental situations that are frustrating,

impatient, non-rewarding, or even aggressive toward them, or where they sense rejection from another person, they're going to react emotionally much more than other people do.

But it's not just to social relationships.

It is across the board.

They're going to be more emotional even when they're alone and encounter frustration.

I mean, I had a weightlifter tell me that he tore the door off of his car because when he parked it, went into the parking lot, he left the keys in and he locked the door.

Now, this is back old school days where these days it's very hard to do that because cars are programmed to do that.

But this guy literally spent 30 minutes by the side of the road in a parking lot tearing the door off a car.