Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) is a term used to describe feeling extreme emotional pain due to rejection or perceived rejection, with those who experience it often struggling to regulate their emotional reactions.
Whilst it’s not yet an officially recognised diagnosis or symptom and is a relatively new term, it’s referred to commonly in relation to ADHD.
People who experience rejection sensitive dysphoria report:
- extreme anxiety or worry in anticipation of a rejection
- heightened sensitivity to perceived rejection, failure or criticism
- overwhelming and spiralling negative thoughts in relation to the perceived rejection or criticism
- low self esteem
- difficulty maintaining relationships
- withdrawal from opportunities in fear of rejection
It’s not simply a case of feeling disheartened after a perceived rejection, but emotionally consumed.
In this study looking at deficiency in emotional self-regulation (DESR) in adults with ADHD, “DESR was more common among ADHD compared with non-ADHD adults, and 55 % of adults with ADHD reported extreme DESR of greater severity than 95 % of control subjects.”
A similar study by Skirrow & Asherson looking at emotional liability in adults with ADHD also report a positive correlation, indicating that emotional liability in adults with ADHD appears to be primarily associated with ADHD rather than any other comorbid conditions. Their results encourage adults with long term emotional liability problems to consider ADHD screening.