Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) is a symptom that individuals with ADHD may experience. Subsequently, it is characterized by an intense and sudden emotional reaction to perceived rejection or criticism from others. Individuals may feel extreme emotional pain and may take the rejection personally, often leading to feelings of sadness, anger, or anxiety.

Concurrently, RSD can cause individuals to avoid social situations, withdraw from relationships, and avoid taking risks for fear of rejection or failure. It can also cause intense mood swings, irrational thinking, and extreme sensitivity to criticism or perceived rejection.

Although, rejection sensitive dysphoriais is not officially recognized as a psychiatric disorder, but it is a well-recognized symptom in the ADHD community. It can significantly impact a person’s quality of life and relationships.

Causes of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria

Experts don’t fully understand the cause yet. But some believe the structure of your brain might have something to do with it.

Furthermore, the parts of the brain that process and respond to and manage acts of rejection, failure, emotional awareness, and negative messages are called the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.

Even more, they’re located at the front of the brain and cause children, teens, and young adults to lose their temper and become frustrated or upset. Usually, these parts of the brain get better at processing signals as you get older. Therefore, you’re able to rein in feelings and keep them organized and under control so that you can interact with your surroundings and meet your goals.

But for some people with psychological or behavioral conditions, your brain might not regulate these signals properly. Instead, it might make negative emotions too painful to bear and overwhelming to manage or keep in check. This leads to what experts call “emotional dysregulation.”

Besides the brain’s physical structure, some experts think genetics might play a role. Especially because ADHD, which is closely linked to RSD, runs in families. But experts need to further study RSD and its links to mental health conditions.

Symptoms of RSD

While RSD is not an official diagnosis, people with RSD are likely to:

Firstly, be strong people-pleasers
Feel more embarrassed or self-conscious
Have low self-esteem and self-doubt
Fourthly, display sudden outbursts of physical emotions like anger, tears, and sadness
Engage in negative self-talk
Have difficulty managing their reactions
Find it draining to manage relationships
Additionally, suddenly become quiet, moody, or show signs of depression or anxious feelings
Low self-esteem
Avoidance of social settings
Fear of failure
In addition, high expectations for self
Frequent emotional outbursts after being hurt or rejected
Feelings of hopelessness
Approval-seeking behavior
Anger and aggression in uncomfortable situations
Finally, anxiety

In some cases, the fear of disapproval or rejection from others could cause you to avoid certain tasks and responsibilities or withdraw from social interaction.

On the other hand, you might try to achieve perfection to avoid any chances of failure in the first place. This could take a toll on your overall quality of life.

RSD can sometimes resemble certain mental health conditions which include:

Treatments For Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria

There’s no specific cure or treatment for RSD. But certain medications and therapies used to treat ADHD and other mental health conditions could help you regulate your intense emotional responses.

Medications that might help include:

Alpha-2 receptor agonists. Nonetheless, prescription ADHD drugs like guanfacine (Intuniv) and clonidine (Kapvay) are designed to activate brain receptors. They improve your brain’s ability to receive and process emotional signals.

Stimulant medications. Prescription drugs like amphetamine (Adderall) and methylphenidate (Ritalin) stimulate certain chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) that shoot signals between different brain cells. This helps your brain to process incoming messages and improves communication skills.

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). For the most part, this class of drugs is often used to treat depression. But it’s also been known to improve your sensitivity to rejection. But you can’t take this drug along with other commonly used ADHD medications and certain foods like aged cheese or meat. It can cause your blood pressure to shoot up to dangerous levels.

Besides drugs, psychotherapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy and talk therapy can help with rejection sensitivity, too. This form of therapy could help you gain insight and awareness into your emotional responses.

Moreover, it can help you build good habits such as listening to the other person, asking for clarifications, or waiting or taking time to think of a response rather than having an intense emotional outburst. It might also improve your impulse control.

Rejection Sensitivity Versus Social Anxiety

In general, rejection sensitive dysphoria and social anxiety are distinct but related phenomena that can impact a person’s social interactions and emotional well-being.

As discussed, people with RSD may be overly sensitive to social cues and tend to interpret neutral or ambiguous situations as signs of rejection. Therefore, they may experience intense emotional distress, fear, and anxiety when faced with the possibility of rejection, also known as rejection sensitivity.

On the other hand, social anxiety, also known as social phobia, involves an intense and persistent fear of social situations in which people may feel embarrassed, judged, or humiliated. Specifically, people with social anxiety often have a strong desire to avoid social interactions or may endure them with significant distress. A major aspect of social anxiety is the fear of being judged negatively and rejected by others.

Rejection sensitive dysphoria and social anxiety both involve concerns related to social interactions and the fear of rejection, but there are some key differences. RSD tends to focus specifically on the fear of rejection and the emotional response to it, whereas social anxiety encompasses a broader range of fears related to social situations and judgments by others. In the meantime, social anxiety can extend beyond rejection sensitivity, including general performance anxiety, fear of public speaking, and discomfort in various social settings.

However, people can have both RSD and social anxiety, and the two can even exacerbate one another. Some people with social anxiety may develop heightened rejection sensitivity due to their fear of negative evaluation. In contrast, those with RSD may develop social anxiety due to the distress caused by their sensitivity to rejection.

Coping With Rejection Sensitivity

Consequently, rejection under any circumstance can be painful, but there are healthy ways to deal with it. Hence, the first thing is to step back and take a look at the one variable in relationships you can regulate: your own feelings.

Here are some tips that may help:

Feel the pain and acknowledge the loss: In truth, it’s OK to feel sad or disappointed over rejections such as ending a relationship or losing a job. Acknowledging your feelings helps you to work through them.
Distract yourself: Of course, rather than burying yourself under the cover, take the opportunity to exercise, go to the movies, or meet with friends. If your instinct is to chew on raw emotions, distraction may be your best friend.
Seek support: On the contrary, don’t assume that everyone doesn’t want to hear your sad story. Find someone to take to, and make the most of it by listening to what they say. On the positive side, you don’t have to agree, but creating a two-way conversation reinforces friendships and relationships.
Don’t assign blame: Consequently, the problem is that people with relationship sensitivity tend to blame themselves when a relationship falls. Focus instead on the lessons to be learned, rather than any failure or blame you may feel.
Therefore, if you find it difficult to cope, reach out to a therapist who can help you develop the tools to manage in a healthy way

Articles About Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria

-Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Symptom Test for Adults

https://www.additudemag.com/quiz/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-symptom-test-for-adults

-New Insights Into Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria

https://www.additudemag.com/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-adhd-emotional-dysregulation

-HOW TO MANAGE REJECTION-SENSITIVE DYSPHORIA (RSD) AT WORK

https://www.neurodiversitymedia.com/resource-library/managersdwork

Have a Good One,

Cindee Murphy, One Voice in the Vastness of Emotions

“One thing you have to realize from now on is that it doesn’t matter if this is a dream or not. Survival depends on what you do, not what you think.”― Rebecca McKinsey, Anterria

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References

https://www.verywellhealth.com/rejection-sensitivity-vs-rsd-5271409#toc-coping-with-rejection-sensitivity

https://www.charliehealth.com/post/how-iop-can-help-with-rejection-sensitive-dysphoria#:~:text=While%20RSD%20is%20commonly%20associated,desire%20for%20acceptance%20and%20validation.