https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24099-rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-rsd

I always had this thing where randomly certain types of criticism, even small ones or ones where in hindsight it wasn’t really against me, WRECKED me. Like was all I could think about for days, where I wasn’t able to sleep that night at all, just overwhelmed with negative emotions. I still remember the overwhelming feeling of sadness and frustration I got once because I got a question marked wrong in like the 4th grade because I didn’t “show my work” properly even though I got the answer right.

When I was younger this was a fun combination, because I was undiagnosed ADHD sufferer school was a place I got a good amount of criticism. So yeah I got called a crybaby a good amount. Which of course… more criticism. Yay.

I grew out of the crying (as any man should, I was told), but never grew out of random insults hitting me as hard as if someone I love just died. There were hobbies/games/communities I adored that I quit suddenly because a single snide comment for some reason filled me with such negative emotions I couldn’t do said thing without thinking about it all the time.

But now as I just got my ADHD diagnosis and learning that RSD is a symptom that goes along with it, it makes SO MUCH SENSE, and is now something I can work with my counselors on.

But yeah, just curious if the cry baby thing was a shared experience.

  • ericbomb@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    3·
    1 month ago

    My mom thought I had bipolar as well when I was a teen!

    Because I would spiral and become so agitated/depressed for no reason. (There usually was a reason. It was usually dumb, and I couldn’t explain why it made me so unreasonably upset.)

    Then other times I would become hyper focused on a thing where I wouldn’t eat/sleep.

    So I can certainly understand why those two things could be confused for mania/depression to a layman.

    RSD, in my understanding, is just a thing that happens to a lot of ADHD folks and not a separate diagnosis. Some of the readings say the fact that we know it’s illogical makes it worse, cause we feel stupid/embarrassed by our actions.