In short
Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) in ADHD—what it feels like, why it happens, how it shapes personality and relationships, and how it can be treated.
Guest
Dr. William (Bill) Dodson, psychiatrist and ADHD clinician who coined/popularized the term “RSD.” He says he first recognized the phenomenon from earlier training and patient reports. He references the Winder-Reimer/Utah criteria and its path into DSM-2.
Key claims
RSD is an “exquisite sensitivity” to perceived withdrawal of love/approval/respect, often triggered instantly (zero to 100), with physical pain and wordless distress. It always ends, though episodes can last minutes to days (sometimes much longer). It’s both biologic (ADHD is lifelong/genetic) and shaped by repeated negative feedback/trauma. Executive-function-deficit theory is criticized as incomplete and “hostile,” and ADHD is framed as a different nervous system that can hyperfocus when conditions fit.
Notable examples
Patients clutch chest/hunch/grimace; people hide a “mask” and then explode or collapse when triggered. Dodson describes three common RSD-driven patterns: avoidance, people-pleasing, and perfectionism. He links RSD to social anxiety/agoraphobia via anticipatory humiliation fears. He cites studies/figures: ~90–95% identify with lifelong rejection sensitivity; ~70% of ADHD third graders reportedly lack a friend; average third grader has ~20,000 negative messages. He discusses medication options: alpha-2A agonists (30% response), and MAOIs as more effective but harder to use; trauma-informed therapy (e.g., EMDR) for PTSD.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOUnderstanding Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD)
1:00 to 2:00
Dr. Dodson explains what RSD is and how it impacts individuals.
“Let's start off, Bill, with a simple but probably not an easy question about rejection sensitivity dysphoria, and I'll refer to it as RSD from this point on.”
The Experience of RSD
2:00 to 4:00
Explore the intense emotional and physical pain of RSD episodes.
“And what RSD is, is an exquisite sensitivity to the perception, doesn't have to be real, the perception that someone has withdrawn their love, approval, or respect.”
The Causes and Symptoms of RSD
4:00 to 6:00
Discussing the genetic and environmental factors contributing to RSD.
“totally cut off from everybody else, just a profound loneliness.”
The Impact of RSD on Life
6:00 to 8:00
Dr. Dodson shares how RSD affects relationships and self-perception.
“Have you always been much more sensitive than other people you know to rejection, teasing, criticism, or your own perception that you've failed or fallen short?”
Historical Context of RSD
8:00 to 10:00
A look at the historical research and origins of the term RSD.
“And at the time, it was a part of the very first research on treatment-resistant depression.”
The Role of Negative Messages
10:00 to 12:00
Examining how negative feedback shapes the experiences of those with ADHD.
“And that statement is always one of the big disappointments for most of my patients who hope that someday it's going to go away and they're going to be neurotypical.”
The Loneliness of ADHD
12:00 to 14:00
Understanding the loneliness experienced by individuals with ADHD and RSD.
“sit down, stop that, stop fidgeting, what's wrong with you?”
Understanding Loneliness and Shame in ADHD
14:00 to 17:21
Explore how individuals with ADHD experience loneliness and shame due to societal expectations.
“can that make that inner version of you quite lonely?”
The Challenges of RSD and Misunderstanding
17:21 to 22:05
Discuss the challenges of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) and how it is often dismissed by clinicians.
“And so they always go through life at a setting of about 10 out of 10.”
Executive Function and ADHD Misconceptions
22:05 to 25:55
Examine misconceptions about executive function deficits and their implications for understanding ADHD.
“You're a hardworking person doing the best they can.”
Show all 28 chapters
The Emotional Complexity of ADHD and RSD
25:55 to 28:00
Delve into the emotional complexities of ADHD and how RSD impacts actions and relationships.
“which is the groundwork is already laid from having hundreds of thousands.”
Understanding RSD and Its Impact on ADHD
28:00 to 37:34
Explore the effects of Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria on individuals with ADHD and how it shapes their personalities.
“And you layer on top of that a neurologic, catastrophic emotional response, and it's a witch's brew.”
Understanding RSD and Its Impact on ADHD
37:37 to 38:32
Explore the effects of Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria on individuals with ADHD and how it shapes their personalities.
“we want to turn over a new leaf looking to be more productive, more organized and never late.”
Regrets and Realizations in the ADHD Community
38:32 to 42:04
Discuss the common regrets experienced by those with ADHD and the emotional toll of being misunderstood.
“Probably the biggest one, and the one that's hardest to talk about, is that they never feel truly loved, just as they are.”
Understanding ADHD and Its Labels
42:04 to 43:34
Explore the impact of ADHD labels on children and the importance of treatment.
“Consequently, whenever I have a parent that said, oh, I don't want to put my kid on medication.”
The Effects and Duration of RSD Episodes
43:34 to 47:00
Learn about the emotional rollercoaster of RSD episodes and their lasting effects.
“If there is a difference, one is guys, what do I talk about?”
Comparing RSD and PTSD
47:00 to 49:06
Discuss the similarities and differences between RSD and PTSD, and their impacts.
“every time she'd think of what happened, she was back there.”
Managing RSD in Relationships
49:06 to 52:08
Understand how RSD affects romantic relationships and ways to manage it.
“to over interpret over respond very benign statements very constructive criticism as being devastating.”
Medications for RSD and ADHD
52:08 to 56:00
Discover medications that can help manage RSD and ADHD symptoms effectively.
“It stops that generational pattern of destruction.”
Understanding ADHD Medications
56:00 to 58:08
Learn about the role of medications in treating ADHD symptoms.
“They came on the market as blood pressure medications of the 1960s.”
Exploring Sleep Patterns in ADHD
58:08 to 1:00:25
Discover how ADHD affects sleep and the implications of delayed sleep phase.
“And that is people with ADHD want to sleep a nice normal hour sleep phase is they want to do it from 4 a.m.”
The Role of MAOIs in ADHD Treatment
1:00:25 to 1:04:01
Understand the potential use of MAOIs for treating severe ADHD and RSD.
“Second thing is that the individual response rate to any one of those medications is, disappointingly low, at about 30%.”
Distinguishing RSD from Social Anxiety
1:04:01 to 1:06:46
Learn how to differentiate between RSD and social anxiety disorder.
“But when you use them, most of that 40%, it's an even better response.”
Strategies for Managing RSD
1:06:46 to 1:10:04
Explore prevention and self-care strategies for dealing with RSD.
“Interestingly enough, the very best treatment for social anxiety disorder is back to the MAOIs.”
Understanding ADHD and Emotional Management
1:10:04 to 1:12:09
Explore how ADHD impacts behavior and emotional regulation, especially relating to substance use.
“They're using it to lead life better and in more balance by subduing the impulsive hyperactive component of ADHD, which is yet a whole other presentation.”
The Origins and Meaning of RSD
1:12:10 to 1:14:29
Delve into the creation of the term RSD and its significance in understanding emotional experiences.
“Believe me, if I had known just how tongue-twisting the name was going to be, I would have searched for something else, anything else.”
Parenting a Child with ADHD
1:14:30 to 1:17:56
Learn effective parenting strategies that can support children with ADHD and prevent RSD.
“I was going to move on, Bill, just finally to the audience questions.”
Messages of Hope for Children with ADHD
1:17:57 to 1:20:46
Understand how a supportive presence can shape the lives of children with ADHD and reinforce their self-worth.
“Or it was a person who gave a three-part message to the child.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Ultra running shoes are all about space. The space to go further. To feel better. To do something you never thought possible. And this space starts with Ultra Fit. Unlike traditional running shoes, Ultra Fit gives toes more room to move naturally. So every step is strong, balanced, and comfortable. Whatever you're lacing up for, stay out there. With Ultra. Shop now at ultrarunning.com. That's A-L-T-R-A running dot com. This for me is very surreal. It's not every day I get to speak to somebody who coined one of the most used, recognisable, yet I think painful acronyms in ADHD history. ADHD royalty, I truly believe you are.
0:49I was saying just before we started, I got my diagnosis two and a half years ago and your work was one of the first I dived into. So on a personal note, thank you ever so much. My pleasure. Thank you. Let's start off, Bill, with a simple but probably not an easy question about rejection sensitivity dysphoria, and I'll refer to it as RSD from this point on. And then perhaps we'll build up to some more advanced and specific details about RSD. But to start with, what is RSD and how is it experienced?
1:30Artistry is a phenomenon that I first noticed because I'm a practitioner. I'm not a researcher. And so when you sit with a thousand people and you hear the same thing coming from every single one of them, you may not know that it's important. I mean, what it is, but you know that it's important. And so I have to give all the credit to my patients because they were the ones who described it to me. And what RSD is, is an exquisite sensitivity to the perception, doesn't have to be real, the perception that someone has withdrawn their love, approval, or respect. And, I mean, nobody likes being criticized, nobody likes being rejected, but for people who have an ADHD-style nervous system, it is catastrophic.
2:26In fact, that's why the name of it includes the word dysphoria, which is literally Greek for unbearable. And so it's like sort of other people's experience of rejection, only it is suddenly hit. It goes from zero to 100 in the blink of an eye. It's incredibly painful. It's physically painful. You'll see people clutch their chest or hunch over or grimace because it's not just emotionally painful. It's physically painful as well. One of the other odd features of it is that people cannot describe what the pain is like. It's wordless. I always think of it as having been so primitive it came before there were words.
3:19But people can describe the intensity of it. And so they use words like it's awful, it's terrible, unbearable, catastrophic, overwhelming. And the person can't just keep going. It knocks them to their knees instantaneously. And so that's one of the problems is that it hits so suddenly, so completely, that most people can't see it happening in advance and bring up all the stuff that they learned in cognitive behavioral treatment or dialectical behavioral treatment, you just get slammed with it. People report feeling totally cut off from their surroundings, totally cut off from everybody else, just a profound loneliness.
4:09And that they've been cast out from everybody, every place that they know. I feel totally bereft. It's an awful, awful feeling. It then will continue an unknown period of time. It can be minutes, it can be days. But during that time, there's really nothing much that you can do. You just have to let it run its course. One of the most important things I've found that people need to know up front is that it will end. And most people, when they're in an episode of RSD, have the conscious fear, this is never going to end. I'm going to be in torment forever. So letting people know that every time it does come to an end, you will survive it.
5:01It's just extremely unpleasant. Whether or not it's only seen in ADHD is unknown. Now, we did some research last year. We're turning the numbers on to try and answer that question. So talk to me in six months. I'll be able to give you at least the preliminary of the results. But for right now, in my own practice, when I ask sort of a screening question for RSD, somewhere around 90 % to 95 % of people say, oh, my God, yes, you've been following me around my entire life. It's not, well, no, it's, wow. And about half of the people who say no come back later and say, well, yeah, I sort of lied to you.
5:51It just caught me by surprise, and I panicked and masked it and all that. The screening question that I use in my practice for the last 15 years is look back over your entire life. Just as well as memories you can. Have you always been much more sensitive than other people you know to rejection, teasing, criticism, or your own perception that you've failed or fallen short? The vast majority of people with ADHD identify with that strongly. And I was actually surprised just how strongly. after the first time I actually put something on the internet, there were, within six months, more than 100 sites on Instagram talking about it.
6:48There were chat groups on Reddit. In fact, the one on Reddit received more involvement and comments and things like that than any other topic in ADHD in their history. so i was even i was surprised at how many people identified with it uh worldwide i mean i mean literally from around the world you've perfectly described the debilitating feeling that comes with rsd and i think everyone listening or watching will relate to that um When I see someone who has dedicated so much of their career towards a particular topic, I always question and wonder where that passion and motivation comes from. So why did you coin the phrase RSD?
7:43Where did that interest start for you? Well, at the very beginning, when I was listening to people, I recognized that what they were describing was something from way back in my own training that was called rejection sensitivity dysphoria. And at the time, it was a part of the very first research on treatment-resistant depression. In fact, it was the hallmark symptom of treatment-resistant depression. and the treatment of choice then and now were the monamine oxidase inhibitor antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, which, by the way, worked beautifully for ADHD as well. And so, as I said, that's what Paul Winder was describing.
8:33And because the current state of affairs in ADHD have been allowed to languish for so long, and they lacked so much. Back 15, 20 years ago, I went back and started over again from the beginning, and that's the work of Paul Winder and Frederick Reimer, who originally described the syndrome. And they described it very much the same way I approached RSD. They were psychiatrists in Salt Lake City, Utah, who sat with thousands of hyperactive children and wrote down the patterns that they saw. And that's how we got our first diagnostic criteria. It was called the Winder-Reimer criteria, then the Utah criteria, and finally it went into the DSM-2.
9:30And it replaced minimal brain dysfunction. Bill, do you think that following on from that, Are people with ADHD, are they born more sensitive to rejection, or is it a consequence of exposure to nasty comments? The answer is yes. It's both. ADHD itself is a genetic, biologic, neurologic condition. You're born with it. You'll die with it. It's lifelong. It's how you're wired. And that statement is always one of the big disappointments for most of my patients who hope that someday it's going to go away and they're going to be neurotypical. Doesn't happen. On your 18th birthday, they don't give you a nice wrapped-up present.
10:20Oh, goody, just what I always want in a new nervous system. It doesn't happen. So it's, you know, you're there, deal with it. So it is genetic. And you can also tell because it responds so well to two different classes of medication. So in psychiatry and the medications of psychiatry, we generally sort of lump them into two groups. One are the neurologic, biologic predispositions to certain conditions. These are all big names in the diagnostic criteria. But there's another large group that comes from what happened to you. You're just an average person, and you have adverse events, head injuries, brain infections, and, of course, the big one, PTSD.
11:16Now, it's the average person's response to either one catastrophic emotional experience or thousands of them repeated life long. And that really is like categorizes people with ADHD.
11:38who was at the time the chairman of child psychiatry at Harvard, wrote a paper where he estimated that the average third grader, so starting eight to nine years old, has already heard 20 ,000 additional negative or corrective messages by the third grade. I don't care who you are. But if you have 20 ,000 messages saying, sit down, stop that, stop fidgeting, what's wrong with you? You're too intense. But with this rapid fire, you're not okay. You're not acceptable the way you are. And you better change in a hurry. Which, of course, they can't do. Set them up for failure. A guy named Mikami has published extensively on the power, necessity, of having friendships.
12:30That you're not going through life alone. Being alone is traumatic, tremendously traumatic in and of itself. McCommie published a study, again, on third graders with ADHD, and he found that 70 % of these children did not have a friend, not a single friend. That's even more damaging. When mothers cry in my office, it's not because their kid's flunking mad. they'll fix that they cry because their child has never been asked to a birthday party never been asked to a play date now and they live a life of being ostracized now most of my patients by the time they got to high school had self-segregated into a group of other adhd people
13:24can it be a lonely experience bill because if you're if you're exposed to 20 000 extra negative comments i suppose you quickly understand or realize that the problem to that solution that problem the solution to that problem is to change who you are and to hide the version of you that is getting all of those negative criticisms. Absolutely. So if there is a disconnect over time, therefore, after perhaps years of masking between the version of you that is being presented to the world and the version of you that's hiding inside, can that make that inner version of you quite lonely? Oh, it's seemingly lonely.
14:06But that's accurate. You are alone. And worse than that, people have demanded from you that you find a solution for something that has no solution. They basically say, be neurotypical. People with ADHD, let me tell you, try all day, every day their entire lives and never attain that. So they go through life with a false front. I have a belief that what I actually genuinely, authentically am is unacceptable to anyone. and the big thing that comes out of that is massive shame shame about who i am and that's the source of a lot of the incredibly hostile self-talk that a lot of people have going on in their heads all day long when i speak to people who experience rsd they have told me that in the past heartbreakingly people close to them have accused them of making mountains out of molehills and when they've tried to explain that their intense emotional responses are rsd it gets dismissed do you think this cycle of perhaps someone trying to open up about it and them getting met with a dismissal only perpetuates that shame?
15:34Oh, absolutely. Multiplies it. The other place that that happens, at least it's worse, if not worse, is when they go to their clinician, who probably has not read a word, had never heard the term, and they come in and said, and here's the thing that gets them in trouble, I read on the internet about this condition as part of ADHD, and I've got it in spades. And they then describe RSD. As far as I can tell, most of the time, clinicians will go, you're just exaggerating. Don't get anything from Dr. Google, and especially don't get anything from TikTok. Let's move on. and again that's because a lot of physicians are clods here's a person who just walked in told you that they have found something in their life that's deeply meaningful and then for them immediately to discount it you might as well just stab them in the chest and wave goodbye to that therapy ever being really an alliance they have proven themselves are not worthy of being trusted with their own emotions.
16:55To go back to what you said, I don't really see it as that much of an exaggeration. I don't see it as a flaw. People with ADHD are very intense, passionate people. Now, if they don't care about something, it's just not in their lives. So everything that's left are things that they care deeply about. And so their highs are high, their lows are lower. And so they always go through life at a setting of about 10 out of 10. So that if something else major suddenly hits them out of the blue, they've got no reserve. And so it's layered on top of what a neurotypical person would describe as, you know, a really stressful day.
17:49People with ADHD have a really stressful day all day, every day. And so it's that layering on top. They don't have any capacity to deal with it. It just, boom, overwhelms them. They can't prepare for it because they don't see it coming. And even if they did, I haven't found anything in my patients other than medication that would prevent it. so yeah people with adhd goes through wearing a mask to the world and the bottom line is who and what i am is unwanted and sometimes you go beyond that i'm bad i'm terrible i'm loathsome you just really go down the rat hole i totally agree people with adhd certainly go through life wearing a mask and sometimes when they are triggered by rsd they can perhaps snap it can come out as intense sadness or rage sometimes and the people i've spoken to on my podcast have have actually many of them have said that they've been labeled as dr jekyll and mr hyde yes because the version that their friends family perhaps are used to or their colleagues is this masked version of themselves so then someone says something a tiny comment or they're criticized and boom this explosion and this new side comes and this new side of them comes out that no one's seen before and it can be quite shocking the difference in presentation between the triggered version versus their masked version the the triggered version that perhaps could present as bursting into tears or internalizing it or externalizing it perhaps in a huge row in the office or with your partner is that the inner child almost trying to scream out in frustration almost annoyed that they've been seen and the effort that they've put into masking has gone to waste in that moment?
20:03Yeah, I mean, it's experienced as a rejection. I have tried so hard, so long, with everything I have, only to be told it's wrong, it's unacceptable, it's immediately cast aside without any appreciation of how hard people with ADHD work just to get through life. So, again, I would draw a distinction between this approach where you see people with ADHD as being good, normal, intact people who are dealing with something that's just extraordinarily strong and the way that people who are devotees of executive function deficit view it. I think one of the reasons why executive function deficit theory has failed so completely is that its basic premise is wrong.
20:56Executive function folks view people with ADHD as really just being neurotypical people, but they're damaged. They're deficit. They're broken. And they need to be fixed. and they seem to have absolutely no awareness at all of how hostile and off-putting that is to people with ADHD. And the fact that, again, in all other studies, less than 50 % of people have an executive function deficit. And yet they want to explain ADHD strictly in terms of executive function deficits. Can't do that. If more than half, don't have them. The other thing is, all the therapies that they tried have failed to show, and here's the standard, any detectable lasting benefit to the core features of ADHD.
21:50It just hasn't worked at all. So that's why I'm a therapist. I work with people. I tend to see them as good people who are dealing with something that nobody's given them any instruction at all about how to deal with it if you get any ideas it's from other people with ADHD who have written books, written articles about what the experience is if you look at all the useful stuff that you probably looked at it wasn't scientific papers It was other people who got it, who really understood, who really understood what you were going through and accepted you just as you are. You're not broken. You're not devastated.
22:42You're a hardworking person doing the best they can. I think it's such an emotional condition, so much more so than the medical community I still think give credit for. emotional dysregulation is that part of the RSD conversation? Oh yeah
23:04I have to go back and lay a little historical groundwork when you're doing research that you hope has a chance of being published because your job depends on it being published you can only use things which you can see count which are always there, and then you can do statistical analysis on it, so you need your paper published. ADHD has none of those things.
23:35After the hyperactivity dims in early adolescence and goes inside as hyperarousal, it's almost entirely an internal experience that, indeed, people can and do mask. It also isn't consistent. just about everybody with ADHD, when the situation is just right, can flip and become totally engaged with what they're doing, hyperfocus, flu state, whatever you want to call it. And when they do, they don't have any problems. They have no deficits. So again, ADHD is not a damaged brain. It's just what matters is the situation that the person's in. That's what determines whether or not they're off in la-la land or in a hyper-focus.
24:26So, you know, it's not that people with ADHD have bad brains. It's that they have a different brain, a second nervous system. Works perfectly well just by a totally different set of rules, techniques, methods, etc. One of the questions I ask every patient is, look back over your entire life, drag up all the memories you can because this has to be lifelong, if you've been able to get engaged and stay engaged with literally any task of your life. Have you ever found anything you couldn't do? I'd like to listen to sort of y 'all now. Think back over their lives. Thus far, everybody I've asked that question to who has an ADHD nervous system will say, no, if I can ever get engaged and stick with it, I've never found anything I couldn't do.
25:24That shoots executive function deficit theory right out the window. People with ADHD are not deficit. They can do anything if the situation's right. And that's what rejection sensitivity is, is something outside. Now, something they perceive as being a threat, a trigger. Now, if somebody's going to withdraw their love, approval, or respect, they're hardwired, in my belief, to have a catastrophic reaction, which is the groundwork is already laid from having hundreds of thousands. objections, corrections, demands that you change, I don't want you the way you are, and also despite having very high IQs, struggling with schools, struggling with jobs, knowing from those times when you do get engaged that your brain is capable of remarkable things if you can get access to them.
26:30That's the problem with ADHD, is the traditional ways that everybody's taught that neurotypical people get engaged and get motivated don't work at all for people with ADHD. Neurotypical people use importance and rewards. What do I get out of this? Ask somebody with ADHD. Look back over your entire life. Dredge up all the memories you can. Can you remember a single time, even once, in which the importance of the task all by itself ever once helped you? Helped you get engaged, overcome procrastination, get access to your ability, stick with it all the way to the payoff? Or has the importance been nothing but a nag?
27:16Just by everybody who, oh God, it's nothing but a nag. I just hate it. I know it's important, but it can't get started. And that's the background on which RSD is layered. Good people, incredibly bright people. The average IQ of a person with ADHD is 123. That's all the IQ you need to do anything. You can get a doctoral degree without breaking a sweat. Trouble is they don't have access to it on demand. And so it's that lifetime of frustration, knowing that you can do better and not being able to do it. And you layer on top of that a neurologic, catastrophic emotional response, and it's a witch's brew.
28:10It just really looks ugly and hearty. It's fascinating. I truly agree with you. adhd is not a deficit of attention i think when someone with adhd finds something that truly aligns with who they really are and what they actually care about they don't have a deficit of attention despite what the name wants you to believe they have an abundance of attention um rsd often stops people i feel from starting stuff though from from sort of opening that door and putting a foot forward because of this horrible fear of criticism. From your experience, Bill, at its absolute worst, what can RSD look like in a person with ADHD?
29:02Since RSD is usually not there, other people don't understand it. They don't know what's happening inside you. And even when you explain it, they don't listen. they'd compare it to their own experience and it hasn't matched, they'd discard it. ADSD is always there, unabated, and so people do everything they can to avoid the occasion of either disapproval or another, this is where the last feature comes in, your own perception that you failed or fallen short because ADSD sets you up to do that pretty much all the time. So the pattern that I've seen is it has a profound effect upon the development of personality.
29:55Personality is that set of problem-solving abilities that a person has that when they're presented with stress or a task in life, it's what do they have to do to contend with that solving, mastering, etc. And everybody has a different set, And that's how we know who they are. If somebody who's mild-mannered and very thoughtful has an externalization of RSD and a range, if the person or situation that wounded them so severely, people will say, oh, Fred, I didn't—it wasn't you. I didn't recognize you. So personality is who we are. The technical terms in the literature is it's the mark of the man or the mark of the woman, the mark of the child, whatever.
30:45And so people deal with it in three ways. Some people just decide to quit. They're not going to start anything new, anything challenging, unless they're absolutely assured up front of quick, easy, complete success. If they don't have that, they don't start. And so I have dozens and dozens of people that I've worked with who have never asked somebody on a date, never applied to a job. They're grossly underemployed. And it's because just the imagination of asking somebody and being rejected, being turned down, just the thought of it is so devastating. They say, no thanks on, no part of that. You can go on yourself.
31:34I'm going to stay here. And so they basically live pretty much meaningless lives. And lonely ones. You can't ask somebody out for a date. Another, probably the most frequent one, is what I call people pleaser. People learn to scan the room. They can read the room faster and better than anybody else. Strangers can walk in, and in a matter of seconds, they can tell you what that person likes, approves of, praises, rewards, and that's what they give them. They're constantly anticipating the needs of everybody else around them and fulfilling that need before a person's even aware of it. And this gets so pervasive that they lose track of what they wanted in their lives.
32:19It's just not a thing. If you ask them, what do you want? They, you know, I want everybody to be happy. I want other people to be happy so that they don't get unhappy with me.
32:34And when somebody gets on medication for RSD, it's essentially gone. All of a sudden, they don't have to do this anymore. And when they say, when is it my turn for other people to meet my needs? And they don't. The rage from that is six months and 30. be. The other very common one is perfectionism. I'm going to be so good, an overachiever, I'm going to do the very best, nobody's better, and most of all, I'm going to be above reproach. Nobody can find anything wrong with me. It's a trap because you have to keep doing it all the time. Today's audience does not applaud yesterday's performance. And it's that your acceptance, they believe, is entirely conditional.
33:29You slip up once, you're out. And so it's a very, very hard life. You talk about somebody with a mask. perfectionists live air mass i feel like the there's three consequences you've described there of rsd or going through life tiptoeing around the possibility of feeling the pain that comes with it it's avoidance you just don't put yourself out there it feels safer to stay indoors and not bother because therefore you can't experience any criticism perfectionism how can anybody criticize me if I stay up all night or I stay in the office four hours later than everyone else and do the work to such a high standard that it's completely bulletproof from criticisms.
34:21People don't see what it takes for people with ADHD to get by. The old saying, people with ADHD have to work twice as hard for half as much. And they're willing to. what do you think bill the toll is on someone if they go through years of their life people pleasing um they really don't know themselves they can tell you all about other people there you they can read other people better than they know themselves because that's what they do all day long. And so when they finally don't need to do that, there's a huge emptiness. You know, first of all, they mourn their life to that point. What would my life have been like if I had only known?
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35:13If my parents had only done something back when I was eight. And so there's a real mourning of that. Usually it lasts six to eight weeks, something like that. It's a reactive grieving. And then most people flip fairly suddenly, and again, people accuse them of being bipolar, to where they say, you know, I regret my life to this point, and henceforth I'm going to lead a life without regret. I'm going to do everything I want. I'm times of wasting. I'm going to lead the fullest life imaginable. And so with treatment, you get rid of having to contend with RSV. It frees people up tremendously to do what they always wanted to do.
36:09Now, most people, I'd say three out of four people, really don't know what they desire. They have no idea. they're forth to do. And so for those folks, I flip it around and ask them, what do you regret? I'm having to do a guided affective imagery. Imagine yourself, you're 85 years old, sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair with a lifelong friend. And he starts the following sentence. You know, knowing all that I know now at the end of my life, if I were to have led my life without a single regret, I wish back in 2025 I had an answer to the sentence. Most people don't know what they want, but everybody knows what they regret.
37:03And usually is not something that they read that they did, is what they didn't do. So when the opportunity was there, they had passed by. And that's designed to help people make that 180 degree turn and get in touch with themselves. What do you think some of the biggest regrets are amongst the ADHD slash RSD community if they were to have that conversation? My sincerest apologies for interrupting your hyperfocus. But a quick word from our sponsor. Like many in the new year, we want to turn over a new leaf looking to be more productive, more organized and never late. Well, Timo app is here to help.
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38:23Give it a go and use the link in my bio for 30 % off. Just a note, though, this code is only applicable on the web browser, not the smartphone. Back to the episode. Probably the biggest one, and the one that's hardest to talk about, is that they never feel truly loved, just as they are. They never feel truly chosen. If they're married or something like that, they feel that their partner chose the mask because they never showed them the genuine person underneath. And so it means that they have to go back now that they have accepted themselves as having a second type of nervous system and dealing with all that that means.
39:11I mean, we are a nervous system. Neurology is destiny. They have to go back and reevaluate everything and re-understand their own lives with that important piece of information. and so that's probably the biggest thing is they're not sure if they've ever been loved now they might have been but they know that what the person saw was not truly them I think that's probably the biggest it certainly sounds like it and it's heartbreaking it's totally heartbreaking and it's one of the impairments of ADHD that nobody talks about or issued nobody in science medicine you know book writers and stuff like that you know they're sticking to the things that they can see and research and stuff like that and not the stuff that's really important to people i'm not it's not important to people's lives many people having that conversation when they are 85 with a lifelong friend bill i'm sure many will have conversations saying similar of, I was called too sensitive throughout my life.
40:27And I'm sure lots of the audience have been called that. Why do you think being too sensitive is seen as a negative thing? Well, start with the flip. Think back to high school. Who are the popular people in high school? They weren't the smartest. Often they weren't the prettiest. They weren't the most accomplished. It was the kid who was confident. He seemed like he or she looked like they knew all the answers to life problems, which, of course, in high school, nobody feels that way. But it's so attractive to find somebody. It gives them hope. Now, if you're around them, maybe you'll rub off one knee.
41:10Again, it's that self-possessed confidence. So the flip side of being just totally knocked off your feet, helpless, not being able to even crawl out of it, being thought of as childish, immature, deficit, fractured, is the exact opposite. People avoid that. I mean, why do third graders have no friends? One reason. because of their emotional explosions. Nobody, no other kid wants to be around that. They can put up with the impulsivity, blurting things out, not being able to assist. They can put up with that. If the emotional flooding that hits kids with ADHD, it ends up having them ostracized. Consequently, whenever I have a parent that said, oh, I don't want to put my kid on medication.
42:14I said, look, your kid is already suffering. You just haven't talked to him about it. You didn't know to ask. Now, one of your partners has ADHD. Past of his genetic, at least one parent has ADHD. Go and talk to them about what it was really like growing up. And then come back and tell me that you don't want to give your kids some protection from that.
42:45People say, oh, I don't want my kid labeled. This kid is already labeled. That's that ADHD kid, that kid who's out of control, that kid who's obnoxious and disruptive, he's already labeled. Help him with holding treatment or holding recognition of what's going on and withholding your educated help is what's damaging you. There's nothing more damaging in the end than being given a lifetime problem that nobody's taught you how to handle and somebody leaves you alone with it. That's where damage occurs. That's where despair occurs. At that young age, or any age with RSD, do you notice a difference in how it presents throughout the two sexes?
43:36If there is a difference, one is guys, what do I talk about? But if they internalize it, they see it as a failure of masculinity. What they can tell you about is when they externalize it, and males tend to externalize much more than internalize the way women do. And basically they get slammed, no one at all, in a white rage at the person or situation that wounded them so severely. They're loosely associated with a business where the courts mandated people for anger management treatment, from domestic violence, from road rage, that sort of thing. I just asked them, do a screening checklist for adult ADHD.
44:31And 50%, or almost exactly 50%, had previously unrecognized ADHD and RSD. I mean, that's the impact it's having. 50 % of domestic violence, 50 % of road rage, could have been prevented with proper recognition and proper treatment. So these things have their fingers everywhere in life. Now, nothing remains unchecked. So again, it's the domestic couple where one of them, when they perceive disapproval in the other person's face, just either collapse or explode. And it passes. They're humiliated by it. They apologize for it. I'll never let that happen again. And of course, the first time they imagine they see disapproval in their older face, bam, it happens again because they don't have control of it.
45:29it's not a matter of willpower and other and the other thing is people don't see it coming they can't prepare for it they can't pull together all the things that they've learned to deal with strong emotions boom they're overwhelmed they're done for how long do you think an episode of rsd lasts within a person from that point of unpredictable trigger explosive rage sadness from that point how long do you think it takes until they're completely over it? It's a really lucky 20 minutes is what I hear from my patient. More typical is a couple of hours, and usually what the person does is if they can, they find solitude somewhere.
46:11I have people just go into the broom closet just to get out of people's sight and let it run its course. For some people, it lasts until they go to sleep and they wake up the next morning and it's gone. some people are the last in the next day I have had people that never came out I had one woman who was rejected on the day that she thought she was going to be married and when I saw her two years later she was still in an RSD episode I mean she had just suffered agony for two years because I mean it's funny since where she it had a clear onset. It's not something gradual over time. Bam! It hits.
46:59And with her, every time she'd think of what happened, she was back there. Again, it's almost like a flashback in PTSD. In fact, when it happened, I personally saw something outside. I can't tell the difference. But again, you have to talk to the person. I don't know what's going on but you do. Tell me, you know, take that instant and expand it and tell me exactly how it happened. And that's usually very clear. Well, so I spread, I thought of him, I thought of what happened, and just boom, it hit me and the pain was just as fresh as it was two years ago. Can RSD be comparable to PTSD? can the effect of those 20 ,000 horrible extra comments in your early years, can they compound and to create a similar effect to PTSD?
48:01Absolutely. Again, just a real splitting of hairs. In my experience, thousands of traumas through your life don't cause ADHD. They make it much worse. Again, the two of them together are just dreadful. But again, when you get nothing but that type of feedback, and it hurts, I mean, it'll hurt anybody, but it really hurts you if you have rejection sensitivity.
48:41Damage, it can't help but change the person, how they view themselves. and yeah so this multiple death of a thousand cuts type of thing makes it much worse and people become vigilant for the possibility that somebody is going to hurt them and so they tend to over interpret over respond very benign statements very constructive criticism as being devastating. Now, your boss asks, you know, can I talk to you in private? And you don't know the context or anything like that. Everybody with ADHD says, I'm in deep trouble. I have no idea why. When I'm in deep trouble, he's telling me he's firing me. He's, again, casting me out.
49:34And so, you know, it's unpleasant to go through that. But people with ADHD go through it in their head dozens and dozens and dozens of times. It sounds totally exhausting. And I imagine, do you think RSD plays a big part in the breakdown of romantic relationships? And if so, what might be a good remedy if there is one for managing RSD as a romantic couple?
50:02One, nobody likes walking on themselves constantly.
50:09because the response is to me, you wounded me with what you said. It comes back to them as an accusation of your bad. That's not good for any healthy relationship. That means that the other partner all of a sudden has to wear a mask. They can't be authentic. They have to be checking every word, every tone of voice, and yeah, it loses all the spontaneity, all the gentleness and again, especially if that person either one of them has not been told what the hell's going on. All of those, you know, this is my crazy ex-girlfriend type of thing. So yeah it's disruptive and amazingly it's also disruptive between the ADHD parent and their children You know, all they've seen in terms of parenting is what happened to them.
51:10And so they respond to their kids in exactly the same way and then hate themselves for it later. So in an ideal world, a parent would get the diagnosis, but beyond diagnosis, find out what it really means. It's our diagnostic criteria. It doesn't tell you anything about what it's like to live that way. Learn all the implications for their own lives. Get on some medication that helps the majority of people turn what I call emotional armor. And you still see all the potential rejections and things like that going on that went on last week. But now they bounce off without wounding you. And that's a tremendous way for me.
52:02So then they can turn around and be the parent to their child that they wish they had when they were growing up. It stops that generational pattern of destruction. this is really interesting bill i want to talk about the medication that can potentially help rsd in a little bit you said adhd you're born with it you die with it is rsd potentially though a concoction of adhd and some form of ptsd that comes from all of those criticisms As I turned over forward, I think it's both.
52:43That group of conditions in mental health that come from what happens to you, not how you're genetically predisposed, none of those things respond to medication. They've never found a single medication that makes PTSD better. Not a one. ASARC, believe me, ASARC. The military has been probably foremost in that because they have the most traumatized people. And basically we have nothing. One thing we know is giving benzodiazepines makes it worse. A lot of things will make it worse. Now what works for PTSD is trauma-informed psychotherapy. or somebody really gets what it's like to have had multiple repetitive traumas when you're a defenseless top, especially.
53:38In an ideal world, that trauma-informed therapist would also be ADHD-informed as well because people, I think the prevalence of PTSD in the general population is 6%, something like that. In people with ADHD, depending on what study you read, somewhere between 50 % and 70%. And for women, very commonly, it's intimate partner violence that is so damaging. And going back to what effect does this have on a couple? So it's having to help somebody that really understands you, accepts you just as you are so you can take off that mask, relax, be yourself. That luxury, that is, for a lifetime of being on guard.
54:38And so the other things that help PTSD in particular are some of the somatic therapies. EMDR is particularly good. so again it's not medication that helps that now medication has a profound benefit for the majority not every but the majority of people with adhd so to me it's two this two ingredients which is brood that people with adhd have to deal with without an instruction book Is there a medication that can help with RSD specifically? Yes.
55:21I stumbled onto it. And there's a second group of medications besides the stimulants. In fact, they're called the non-stimulants. They really don't have a name to most people. The medical name is Alpha-2A agonists. Again, a real tongue twister. ADHD seems to attract them. But in the United States and in the United Kingdom, these medications are approved by our government regulatory agencies for the treatment of ADHD. So, I mean, they're well-known. They came on the market as blood pressure medications of the 1960s. So we've got 65 years' worth of experience with these medications, And nothing new is going to come up and bite us at this late date.
56:13They're extremely safe, well-tolerated, and butt pressure medications. They've been replaced because things have come along. And so now, almost exclusively, they're used for the treatment of children and adults with ADHD. And what they do is they address the hyperactive, impulsive components of ADHD. The stimulants handle performance. They're really good for distractibility. Not so good for impulsivity, not so good for hyperactivity. And for that, we add in the alpha agonist. Again, when I'm thinking about using an alpha agonist, I ask four questions. I'm big on questions. You know, first thing I ask is the definition of RSD.
57:06And that's plain. But I continue, I ask what you sleep like. About 75 % to 80 % of people say, Don, I'm a night owl. When the sun goes down and it never gets fully dark, everybody's getting ready for bed, I get a burst of energy. And it's the best time of the day. My mood's best. My energy's best. My attention's best. And everybody else is gone, so I'm not being distracted. I can do what I want. And I know that if I get into bed at a reasonable hour, I can't turn my brain and body off to go to sleep. I turn my mind, jumps from one thing to another. I replay all of the humiliations of my life in Technicolor.
57:45And that goes on until somewhere between two and four in the morning, when they finally do go to sleep and when they try to wake up in the morning, it's out of the sleep of the dead. It's really hard for people with ADHD to wake up before you learn and engage with things until about noon. So the technical term for that is chronic delayed sleep-based syndrome. Anything that takes a whole breath to say is usually a fairly simple concept. And that is people with ADHD want to sleep a nice normal hour sleep phase is they want to do it from 4 a.m. until noon. Trouble is, there are very few school jobs or relationships that tolerate that.
58:26And again, the paradoxical thing is it goes away when you treat the ADHD. And it also prevents people from going to other things to treat their insomnia, marijuana, alcohol, barbiturates, that sort of thing. A third question I ask is look at how you think. How many simultaneous but completely separate thoughts do you have going on in your head at any one time? Most people go, oh, at least a dozen. I've never heard anything less than three. And, again, it's not that they're jumping one thing to another. They have three things they're thinking about at the same time. Again, it's like being in a room and having, you know, three to five people talking to you on different subjects at the same time, demanding that you listen to them and respond.
59:20It's maddening. Now, the alpha agonists, when they work, reduce that to one thought, and it's the thought that you want. The last question I ask is, can you remember a period of time, any time in your life, longer than about five minutes, and not drug and deez, back in your wild and willy youth, in which you have been both mentally and physically at peace? Now, peace is not a very scientific word, but it's the right one. Most people say, no, my brain is always dull. It never lets up. Some people do report that when they're alone in nature, then their mind shuts down. At one thought at a time, they are peaceful.
1:00:09Otherwise, peace is a fairly rare experience for most people with ADHD. So those four things get much better. I'm sure of it with the alpha agonists. The problem with the alpha agonists is that most docs, even in mental health, don't even know they're there, much less how to use them. Second thing is that the individual response rate to any one of those medications is, disappointingly low, at about 30%. So if you took 100 people, you started them on whichever alpha agonist I was so unlucky with that day, 30 % of people would have a life-changing experience. But 70%, the majority, would go, what was that?
1:00:59At that point, you stop the first one, you try the other one, and there's another different 30 % of people who will get that, oh, wow, where have you been all in life? This is life. I get more benefit out of this than I do the stimulant. Unfortunately, that's still at least 40 % who try most medications sequentially and unfortunately don't get much benefit. If a person is really, really impaired by their rejection sensitivity, I mean, they're not getting home with their life. I will try the old medications from back in the 60s, the monamine oxidase inhibitors. They work great. In fact, they work better than the alpha agonists.
1:01:42They're just a royal pain to use. And you have to be as old as I am to have ever been trained on them. But they're still the very best antidepressants, very best anti-anxiety medications that have ever come on the market. It's just their pain. They're difficult. Why are they difficult? Two reasons. One is that originally foods that were aged rather than cooked had an amino acid called teramine that came from the aging process that usually the body destroys as soon as it absorbs you in the gut and it's destroyed by an enzyme called non-amine oxidase. Well, as you inhibit that enzyme, it gets in.
1:02:32First thing the body does with it is turns it into adrenaline. All of a sudden, you have these huge blood pressure spikes. And several people in Europe, the reason why just in Europe, had strokes and died. Scared the bejesus out of people because they didn't know why it was happening. Now we know that it's TR-maine and that if a person eats a balanced diet, they don't excessively eat really expensive teas or something like that, they don't have to make a difference and change in their diet perfectly. The other one is that the MAOIs are fairly strongly served in an orchid. They really boost the serotonin side.
1:03:19That's part of why they work so well as antidepressants. But if you add that in on other drugs that are really boosting serotonin, such as the SSRIs, SNRIs, dextromethorphrine, which is the most common cause. There's a list. You risk getting into what's called serotonin syndrome, where basically your muscles just lock up. They're stiff as bored, disorienting, sweating, blood pressure bounces all over the place. And again, there have been deaths reported. Well, usually when you tell people there have been deaths reported, that's the end of it. They go, I don't want this. But when you use them, most of that 40%, it's an even better response.
1:04:08So ultimately, you can get close to everybody having some sort of relief from RSD. The group of medications that really then become a problem is you can't take any of the stimulants with it. But luckily, one of them, a drug called tranylcypramine, is only one atom different from amphetamine. And it works very well to the treatment of ADHD. In fact, there's a study way back by Yanni Malenzomethin, who was a really big name back when I was in my residency, where he looked at motamine oxidation inhibitors versus amphetamine and found that they worked equally well. So, again, you have to find somebody who's really deep into treating ADHD well.
1:05:00And I can name those people on the fingers of one hand. I want to expand on something fascinating you said earlier, Bill. You said that RSD can cause people to avoid other people or avoid putting themselves forward because of that fear of criticism. And the expansion is, can that avoidance associated with RSD, can that cause things like agoraphobia or OCD? It can be missed for that. Not so much OCD, but certainly agoraphobia and especially social anxiety disorder. Social anxiety disorder is an intense anticipatory.
1:05:47So much for turning off my phone.
1:05:56Virtual anxiety disorder is an intense anticipatory fear for the event that I'm either going to say or do something that's going to humiliate me in front of other people. And even if I perform perfectly, everybody's going to be scrutinizing me, just waiting for me to make a mistake, and then they'll jump me. Now, when they get into the situation, most of that anxiety goes away. It's always before the event. So you can see how that fear of rejection, fear of humiliation, et cetera, could be mistaken for RSD. The difference is that RSD is triggered. So that's the event, and everything comes afterwards.
1:06:42So they look like the timing is totally different. And that's a very fine point, but it's how you tell the difference because they each have different treatments. Interestingly enough, the very best treatment for social anxiety disorder is back to the MAOIs. They just take it away 95 % of the time. But again, most docs, younger than me, have never, ever prescribed it, never been trained on it. They're afraid of it. I mean, they have these irrational fears. You have to find an old codger like me who has experience with it. The other place is, you know, if you have a DSM or just get online, look under the Axis II personality disorders and find avoidant personality disorder.
1:07:34And you will see an exact description of ADHD. So, again, it gets mistaken as personality disorder. as it has been forever and before medications if someone isn't quite able to get those do you have any tools to stop rsd or at least perhaps mitigate the reaction or overreaction that might come with that overwhelming sense and feeling of rejection absolutely just generally speaking the therapeutic response to RSD is prevention, prevention, and more prevention. Because once it's happening, you're dying. You just have to wait for it to run this course. So if you're running on 10 out of 10 all the time, that's going to be exhausting, debilitating.
1:08:30Learn to lead to life in balance. Take good care of yourself. And part of that, of course, is getting adequate sleep. Everything. is better when you've had a good night's sleep. Also, take time away. When you're feeling stressed, leave it with somebody else. Get back to yourself. Get relaxed before you go back in. It's basically just leading the life in balance. No excesses and things like that. No self-medication. One of the drug misuse by people with ADHD is their attempt to medicate ADHD on their own, especially the hyperactive component. This is a digression. If you ask somebody who has a substance use disorder, what do you like about your substance?
1:09:26When you use it, what are you sure it's going to do for you? Now, people who are just not ADHD, just addicted to drugs, are after the high. You know, I get high. My buddies feel great. We go out and get around here. We're having a great time. And that person's not what we're talking about. People with ADHD will tell you, well, I blew a bowl of dope so I can slow down my brain to study. so I can slow down my brain and body to fall asleep. They're using it for adaptive purposes. They're using it to lead life better and in more balance by subduing the impulsive hyperactive component of ADHD, which is yet a whole other presentation.
1:10:20But anyway, take good care of yourself. Don't get pushed to the edge. Don't try so hard. I have a magnet on my refrigerator that has Mount Everest on it. And so remember that all the corpses on Mount Everest were once a highly motivated person. So it made me think about calming down a little bit. It's incredible advice. So that was really interesting, Bill, about the non-ADHD addict chasing the high and the ADHD person perhaps chasing the low. I've spoken to many alcoholics who have ADHD, and alcohol is the only thing that quietens the mind. They're not drinking to go out and party. They're drinking to turn the volume down.
1:11:06They're treating their ADHD. But again, a distinction. It is always better to treat the cause of a symptom rather than nearly suppress the symptom. And so that's what other medications do, is they suppress what's going on and actually impairing you more than a bit. But the trade-off is worth it to most people. And so that's why, again, going back to the tried and true ADHD medications that treat the cause. And that's why you don't develop tolerance to them. They're treating the cause of ADHD. They're not pushing your nervous system in any direction. it's a return to door best functioning it's not an artificial state so again just a digression because that's an important distinction bill this has been absolutely insightful and truly surreal i mentioned at the beginning and people know you coined the phrase rsd and i'm genuinely curious at that point in time were you toying with any any other acronyms like what else could you have Perhaps called it.
1:12:16Believe me, if I had known just how tongue-twisting the name was going to be, I would have searched for something else, anything else. I did try other things.
1:12:32And I had the term reactive in the name.
1:12:39I would have used the word dysphoria, but again most people don't know the meaning of that I mean the guys back way back when who were doing the treatment resistant depression order wanted to emphasize just how bad this was. It was not normal suffering it was not normal depression or anxiety. It was unbearable so they wanted to put it right up there in the name and they did in Greek he got all those guys in harvard yeah they wanted people to know that that was the real feature that mattered was the intensity either normal emotions that most people have felt at some time it's just the sudden overwhelming intensity of them it certainly is incredibly intense and i'm i've no doubt bill that this conversation is going to help so many people who will be watching or feel less alone and less crazy because and i don't use that word lightly sadly i've spoken to lots of people and that's what they have been called for many years sometimes even by their doctors which is truly heartbreaking um and missed diagnosis because they don't even think of it and we were named the book we're working on it was diagnosis treatment of adhd drop diagnosis diagnosis and nonsense to begin with, is now the recognition and treatment of ADHD.
1:14:11Because that's the problem, is that for most clinicians, and even most people, ADHD is just not on the radar screen. They don't know anything about it. They've heard them a time, but they don't say, well, that's me. It's just a neighborhood, you know, anything other than the name and the fact that it's usually mentioned in a derogatory fashion. So, you know, sorry to interrupt you. No, not at all. I was going to move on, Bill, just finally to the audience questions. We have a section at the end of the show called The Washing Machine of Woes, where a member of the audience, it's called The Washing Machine of Woes because typically we do an ADHD item section.
1:14:47And my ADHD item, something that represents ADHD for me, is a washing machine because it perfectly summarizes my issues with memory because I always leave my clothes in the machine after the cycle finishes. But I digress. This week, Bill, someone has written in, and I'll read it from this card. I have a 12-year-old with ADHD. Like any 12-year-old, she is prone to making mistakes. And as an overprotective mother, I'm terrified I'm going to give her RSD with my criticisms when she grows up. How can I avoid this?
1:15:26I always start with some basics, good grounding. And that is, accept the kid you've got.
1:15:41Don't have in your mind something you want to make the child into. It's not going to happen. One of the things that was, again, decided science is that parenting does not produce ADHD. Parenting does not produce emotional dysregulation. Your parenting style, as far as we know, has no effect on the development of RISD. So parents are officially off the hook. I mean, that was one of the big productions of the MTA study back in the late 1990s. So parents, you know, you can make matters worse, but you don't cause ADHD, you don't cause emotional dysregulation. So you basically accept the child the way he or she is.
1:16:32don't try and change them. Let's face it, that's just possible. You're saying, I don't like you, and I'm going to change you to suit me. Something is, be the parent that you wanted. You desperately needed when you were growing up. Rather than criticizing you, when you're overwhelmed and all these ADHD things that you've been suppressing all day come out, when they get home, they're out of school, and let down, and that's when parents see it. Rather than asking, what's wrong with you? How can I help? I see you're a good person, and you're just dealing with more than you can handle right now. How can I help?
1:17:22You're not leaving the kid alone with it. You're not blaming them. You're saying, this can get better. and a parent, I'm going to read about the issue, about what works and what doesn't, and a lot doesn't. All of a sudden, that totally changes the dynamic on the child. You're actually, again, I use this word advisedly, it's therapeutic. Somebody is going to get better, or at least not worse, if you have that type of response. I've always been interested in the people I don't see people with ADHD I have rip-roaring ADHD but seem to be well-adjusted happy had good solid marriages raising good healthy kids I wanted to know what this person knew but I didn't and the one thing that I've heard from everybody is that sometime in their life, usually in the earliest, they have somebody, and it could have been any, blessedly it was a parent or a grandparent, something like that, or it could be a special teacher, a coach, a neighbor, it doesn't matter who it is.
1:18:40Or it was a person who gave a three-part message to the child. First one, I know you. I watched you grow up. and if anybody could have overcome what you're dealing with through hard work and intellect, I know it would have been you saying, you're a good person. I know you. I've known you for a long time, and I know you're throwing through. You're a good, hardworking person. This is not your fault, and it's something you're dealing with almost as if it was outside. life. Second thing is we don't know exactly what we're dealing with.
1:19:31And so we will find out we will master it. Third part. And I want you to know that until we are able to come and master it, I will be with you. We'll go through this together. We'll talk with each other. We'll help each other find out what works and what doesn't until you overcome and master this. It's a message of hope in the future, but most of all, and again, I've hit this several times in our discussion, you don't leave the child alone with an insolvable problem that everybody demands that they solve. That person keeps the child alive. That person acts as the vessel that keeps the memory of them as a good person who tries hard.
1:20:25It is not the bad kid. And even when the kid forgets that, they know this person never forgets. There are still going to be a lot. Even if we don't figure it out, I'm not alone with it. that's what makes the difference and that's why some people with adhd are able to take that and internalize it do it for themselves and go on lead a perfectly good life oh it takes a huge amount of effort don't get me wrong but you know apparently they have never had the need to try medication so that's the parents to me really really really powerful advice bill and i've no doubt life changing for many of the people watching and listening um so truly thank you as i said at the beginning this has been a surreal experience for myself personally i consider you to be one of the the adhd royalties you truly are so on behalf of everyone grappling to understand their brains and from me personally thank you very much oh it's truly my pleasure to be here thank you for inviting me
1:21:46Dr. William (Bill) Dodson:brussels clean up nicely at sweet green maple glazed roasted and edges perfectly caramelized sweet greens fall harvest is back on the menu and the season's most overlooked little green vegetable is dressed to be devoured. You know what to do. Order on the Sweetgreen app.
From the publisher
Dr. William (Bill) Dodson, M.D., LF-APA, is a board-certified adult psychiatrist and has spent his career helping patients achieve the best possible outcomes from ADHD treatment.
Dr. Dodson has been instrumental in advancing the field’s understanding of the emotional component of ADHD, most notably through his recognition of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (“RSD”) as a core feature.
His work with patients with highly complex psychiatric needs has earned him international acclaim. He has written more than 120 articles and produced 17 webinars for ADDitude and the Attention Deficit Disorder Association. He serves on ADDitude’s Medical Advisory Panel.
Chapters:
00:54 What is RSD and how people experience it
07:11 Why did you coin the phrase ‘RSD’
12:55 Is RSD a lonely experience
19:05 Is RSD your inner child throwing a tantrum
22:26 The link between emotional dysregulation and RSD
28:22 The darkest side of RSD
34:59 Dealing with regrets after an ADHD diagnosis
37:01 Tiimo advert
42:59 RSD is women VS men
45:16 How long an RSD trigger lasts
47:18 Can RSD be comparable to PTSD
49:16 RSD in romantic relationships
01:04:50 Can RSD cause agoraphobia or OCD
01:07:25 Tools to stop RSD
01:11:40 Other names for RSD
01:14:01 Audience questions
Visit Dr William’s website 👉 https://www.dodsonadhdtreatment.com
Pre-order Alex’s latest book about Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria 👉 https://linktr.ee/adhdchatter?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=9ffd8709-06df-444c-9936-c136fbd14d6e
Buy Alex's book entitled 'Now It All Makes Sense' 👉 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Now-All-Makes-Sense-Diagnosis/dp/1399817817
Get 30% off an annual Tiimo subscription 👉 https://www.tiimoapp.com/offers/adhdchatter
Producer: Timon Woodward
Recorded by: Hamlin Studios
Trailer editor: Ryan Faber
DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified healthcare provider. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.
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