She looked a little nervous as she asked, âare you the guy who talks about ADHD and Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoriaâ.
I said âyesâ.
She thanked me for making her feel seen for the first time in her life.
She said, âI was misdiagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Iâve been called âtoo sensitiveâ countless times. I honestly thought I was crazy.
She shared how she considered taking her own life in 2025 due to the overwhelming emotional pain and shame she experienced every day.
She said, âI didnât understand why I reacted so intensely to criticism. It cost me my job and my marriage.
Then I saw you speaking about RSD and my whole life made sense. I finally have an explanation for how I react. You taught me that itâs not my fault, and that Iâve always been enough. I want to truly thank you for saving my life.
I said, âthank you so much for stopping me. Moments like this reminds me why itâs vital to talk about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoriaâ.
Shout out to all the ADHDers who are doing nothing for a whole week after Xmas. Youâre not lazy, you just have zero social battery left. The people were exhausting.
You canât leave your bed, canât move, canât function til your nervous system has time to recover after it pretended it was ok so masterfully on Xmas day.
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria is the hardest part of ADHD.
It causes extreme emotional pain when you perceive someone has rejected you.
If youâre not explicitly invited to the Christmas party, if they say come âIF YOU WANTâ, you will assume you attending with be a nuisance to everyone, and that they all secretly find you annoying.
If your partner says âcan we talk laterâ; you assume youâre about to get dumped.
It creates intense feelings of sadness and shame. Itâs brutal. You truly believe everyone is always mad at you and hates you.
You replay âawkwardâ interactions in your head for days. You convince yourself youâre a social failure and that everyone thought you were âtoo muchâ, and now hates you, even your best friends.
Youâre a people pleaser and have difficulty saying ânoâ which makes you vulnerable to abuse.
Youâre a perfectionist because youâre so scared of finishing something to a sub-par standard and someone not being happy with it. Itâs exhausting.
You donât ask for help because you worry youâre a burden.
Why does this happen? Children with ADHD were exposed to 20,000 extra negative comments more than your average child.
âWhy are you so lazyâ âYouâre so sensitiveâ âStop being weirdâ âBe normal!â  EtcâŚ
But youâre not too sensitive, youâre not crazy, despite what many people have told you. You have Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, and there is a solution.
My new book is all about Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. You can pre-order it now.
With permission, I would like to share a story a fellow alcoholic shared in a meeting recently:
She said, "My name is Bethany and Iâm an alcoholic. I had been sober for six years but I relapsed last week.
It was a Friday. I was at work. It was nearly 5pm. I was ready to clock off for the weekend. My email pinged. It was from my boss. It read, âHi Bethany, can you come and see me on Monday morning. Have a lovely weekend.â.
Thatâs all it said. My chest instantly filled with dread.
âIâm useless and now they knowâ. âWhat have I done wrong?â âIâm going to get firedâ âEveryone hates meâ
My mind was racing with catastrophic thoughts. I was crying all the way home. It felt like my world was about to end.
I didnât care about my sobriety anymore. I picked up two bottles of wine on the way home. It felt like an easy solution to this extreme emotional pain.
I woke up the next day filled with shame. The anxiety was all consuming. I didnât sleep Sunday night.
I went to work Monday morning. I walked into my bossâs office. I was shaking. I sat down.
He said, âHi Bethany, I have some good new for you. I want to offer you a promotionâ.
I looked shocked, burst into tears and said âAre you sure?!â
He said, âYesâ.
I said, âThank you so much!â
This story has a happy ending but itâs an important reminder of how, in the absence of clarity and context, Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria will cause you assume the worst case scenario. The downward spirals are fast and brutal; they can derail someone to the point where they will have a drink after 6 years of sobriety.
I canât wait for Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria to be a recognised diagnosis. Itâs very realâŚ
⌠and itâs VERY debilitating đ
P.s. My new book is about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, I have spoken to 300 experts on this topic and included all the strategies in this book.
I was sat in there last week on my own. The door opened and a man walked in. We sat in silence for several minutes. Just as I was about to stand up and leave, he said, âSorry to bother you mate, have you got a few moment to chat? I find it helpful talking to strangers. Iâm struggling with my marriage. I donât know what to do.â
I was a little shocked at the unexpected social interaction but I said âYes, of courseâ.
He explained how him and his wife were arguing all the time, how the tiniest thing would trigger a row, how he was exhausted by the never ending cycle of blow ups.
He asked what I did for a living. I explained how Iâve just written a book about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria.
He asked what Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria was. I explain how it causes extreme emotional pain when you think someone has criticised you and how it makes you feel someone is always mad at you. I described how it can cause triggers that cause rage and cause you to snap back at your partner. I said itâs caused by lots of horrible criticisms in your childhood like:
âYouâre embarrassing yourselfâ âWhy are you being lazy?â âStop biting your nails!â âWhy are you crying?! âYouâve let me down!â âYouâre too much!â âYouâre really rudeâ âStop being weird!â âStop fidgetingâ âCalm downâ âBe normal!â âStop it!â
There was a moment of silence as the man in the sauna looked at me. His lip started to tremble before he looked away and said, âwow, Iâm sorry, youâve just made me really emotional. Youâve just explained my whole life. This is whatâs happening in my marriageâ.
We chatted for several more minutes.
As I left, I extended my arm to shake his hand but he pulled me in for a hug. I heard him cry on my shoulder. He pulled away and said, âthank you mate. I think youâve just saved my marriageâ.
Itâs good to chat about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, if only for a few minutes in a sauna đ
I recently got stopped in a train station by a man.
He was well dressed and looked very confident.
He said, âare you the guy who talks about ADHD?â
I said âyesâ.
We quickly arrived at the topic of RSD (Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria) and he told me it was controlling his life and making work very challenging. He said his colleagues thought he was a high achiever but when he got home, he was drinking a bottle of wine just to cope with the anxiety. He said he always felt like he was about to let someone down or be told off.
We only spoke for a few minutes but it was clear that this man was not as confident or happy as he originally appeared.
He was, like many of us, an expert masking and hiding the struggles.
We shook hands a few minutes later, smiled and said âtake careâ, but it was clear we both had a profound impact on each others day, simply by having a 2 minute chat.
Itâs good to chat about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, even if itâs for 2 minutes in a train station. We reminded eachother that weâre not alone, and weâre not crazy.
ADHD Chatter Podcast
ADHD Chatter Podcast
I just got stopped in the park by a woman.
She looked a little nervous as she asked, âare you the guy who talks about ADHD and Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoriaâ.
I said âyesâ.
She thanked me for making her feel seen for the first time in her life.
She said, âI was misdiagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Iâve been called âtoo sensitiveâ countless times. I honestly thought I was crazy.
She shared how she considered taking her own life in 2025 due to the overwhelming emotional pain and shame she experienced every day.
She said, âI didnât understand why I reacted so intensely to criticism. It cost me my job and my marriage.
Then I saw you speaking about RSD and my whole life made sense. I finally have an explanation for how I react. You taught me that itâs not my fault, and that Iâve always been enough. I want to truly thank you for saving my life.
I said, âthank you so much for stopping me. Moments like this reminds me why itâs vital to talk about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoriaâ.
We hugged and said goodbye.
(Shared with permission)
Moments like these are why I wrote my new book about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria. You can pre-order it here đ linktr.ee/adhdchatter?utm_source=linktree_profile_âŚ
2 days ago | [YT] | 2,545
View 94 replies
ADHD Chatter Podcast
Guys, we just reached one million followers đ¤Ż
I started this podcast in my bedroom 2.5years ago with a dodgy microphone and a laptop.
I truly canât thank you enough for joining me on this journey of self discovery.
I feel so lucky to have this community of people with highly caffeinated squirrel brains.
None of us are broken, just different, we have all always been enough! đ
3 days ago | [YT] | 2,667
View 109 replies
ADHD Chatter Podcast
Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria is real, youâre not crazy đ
Pre-order the book here đ linktr.ee/adhdchatter?utm_source=linktree_profile_âŚ
4 days ago | [YT] | 3,766
View 157 replies
ADHD Chatter Podcast
Shout out to all the ADHDers who are doing nothing for a whole week after Xmas. Youâre not lazy, you just have zero social battery left. The people were exhausting.
You canât leave your bed, canât move, canât function til your nervous system has time to recover after it pretended it was ok so masterfully on Xmas day.
The peopling was⌠a lot.
1 week ago | [YT] | 8,317
View 502 replies
ADHD Chatter Podcast
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria is the hardest part of ADHD.
It causes extreme emotional pain when you perceive someone has rejected you.
If youâre not explicitly invited to the Christmas party, if they say come âIF YOU WANTâ, you will assume you attending with be a nuisance to everyone, and that they all secretly find you annoying.
If your partner says âcan we talk laterâ; you assume youâre about to get dumped.
It creates intense feelings of sadness and shame. Itâs brutal. You truly believe everyone is always mad at you and hates you.
You replay âawkwardâ interactions in your head for days. You convince yourself youâre a social failure and that everyone thought you were âtoo muchâ, and now hates you, even your best friends.
Youâre a people pleaser and have difficulty saying ânoâ which makes you vulnerable to abuse.
Youâre a perfectionist because youâre so scared of finishing something to a sub-par standard and someone not being happy with it. Itâs exhausting.
You donât ask for help because you worry youâre a burden.
Why does this happen? Children with ADHD were exposed to 20,000 extra negative comments more than your average child.
âWhy are you so lazyâ
âYouâre so sensitiveâ
âStop being weirdâ
âBe normal!â
Â
EtcâŚ
But youâre not too sensitive, youâre not crazy, despite what many people have told you. You have Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, and there is a solution.
My new book is all about Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. You can pre-order it now.
And remember, you have always been enough!
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 633
View 19 replies
ADHD Chatter Podcast
Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria makes you go silent when someone upsets you. You are experiencing something called emotional withdrawal.
Itâs a coping mechanism. You will be screaming internally but your nervous system learnt that silence is safer than being misunderstood.
Instead of showing anger or frustration, you hold it in.
âââââââââ-
My new book is about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria. It contains over 100 solutions.
You can pre-order it now đ linktr.ee/adhdchatter?utm_source=linktree_profile_âŚ
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 519
View 18 replies
ADHD Chatter Podcast
Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria is brutal.
It makes you feel like people donât genuinely like youâŚ
âŚbut itâs likely not because they donât.
Itâs because your mind has learned to filter out the signs that they do.
This is called social hyper vigilance, and it often develops in people who are bullied, felt like outsiders, or grew up with over critical parents.
Iâve spoken to 300 Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria experts. Iâve condensed all the solutions into my new book.
You are not alone đ
Click here to order the book đ linktr.ee/adhdchatter?utm_source=linktree_profile_âŚ
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 953
View 27 replies
ADHD Chatter Podcast
I attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
With permission, I would like to share a story a fellow alcoholic shared in a meeting recently:
She said, "My name is Bethany and Iâm an alcoholic. I had been sober for six years but I relapsed last week.
It was a Friday. I was at work. It was nearly 5pm. I was ready to clock off for the weekend. My email pinged. It was from my boss. It read, âHi Bethany, can you come and see me on Monday morning. Have a lovely weekend.â.
Thatâs all it said. My chest instantly filled with dread.
âIâm useless and now they knowâ.
âWhat have I done wrong?â
âIâm going to get firedâ
âEveryone hates meâ
My mind was racing with catastrophic thoughts. I was crying all the way home. It felt like my world was about to end.
I didnât care about my sobriety anymore. I picked up two bottles of wine on the way home. It felt like an easy solution to this extreme emotional pain.
I woke up the next day filled with shame. The anxiety was all consuming. I didnât sleep Sunday night.
I went to work Monday morning. I walked into my bossâs office. I was shaking. I sat down.
He said, âHi Bethany, I have some good new for you. I want to offer you a promotionâ.
I looked shocked, burst into tears and said âAre you sure?!â
He said, âYesâ.
I said, âThank you so much!â
This story has a happy ending but itâs an important reminder of how, in the absence of clarity and context, Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria will cause you assume the worst case scenario. The downward spirals are fast and brutal; they can derail someone to the point where they will have a drink after 6 years of sobriety.
I canât wait for Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria to be a recognised diagnosis. Itâs very realâŚ
⌠and itâs VERY debilitating đ
P.s. My new book is about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, I have spoken to 300 experts on this topic and included all the strategies in this book.
Pre-order it here đ linktr.ee/adhdchatter?utm_source=linktree_profile_âŚ
3 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 3,180
View 216 replies
ADHD Chatter Podcast
I often use the sauna.
I was sat in there last week on my own. The door opened and a man walked in. We sat in silence for several minutes. Just as I was about to stand up and leave, he said, âSorry to bother you mate, have you got a few moment to chat? I find it helpful talking to strangers. Iâm struggling with my marriage. I donât know what to do.â
I was a little shocked at the unexpected social interaction but I said âYes, of courseâ.
He explained how him and his wife were arguing all the time, how the tiniest thing would trigger a row, how he was exhausted by the never ending cycle of blow ups.
He asked what I did for a living. I explained how Iâve just written a book about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria.
He asked what Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria was. I explain how it causes extreme emotional pain when you think someone has criticised you and how it makes you feel someone is always mad at you. I described how it can cause triggers that cause rage and cause you to snap back at your partner. I said itâs caused by lots of horrible criticisms in your childhood like:
âYouâre embarrassing yourselfâ
âWhy are you being lazy?â
âStop biting your nails!â
âWhy are you crying?!
âYouâve let me down!â
âYouâre too much!â
âYouâre really rudeâ
âStop being weird!â
âStop fidgetingâ
âCalm downâ
âBe normal!â
âStop it!â
There was a moment of silence as the man in the sauna looked at me. His lip started to tremble before he looked away and said, âwow, Iâm sorry, youâve just made me really emotional. Youâve just explained my whole life. This is whatâs happening in my marriageâ.
We chatted for several more minutes.
As I left, I extended my arm to shake his hand but he pulled me in for a hug. I heard him cry on my shoulder. He pulled away and said, âthank you mate. I think youâve just saved my marriageâ.
Itâs good to chat about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, if only for a few minutes in a sauna đ
ââââââââââââââââ-
Ps you can pre-order my book here đ linktr.ee/adhdchatter?utm_source=linktree_profile_âŚ
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1,462
View 72 replies
ADHD Chatter Podcast
I recently got stopped in a train station by a man.
He was well dressed and looked very confident.
He said, âare you the guy who talks about ADHD?â
I said âyesâ.
We quickly arrived at the topic of RSD (Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria) and he told me it was controlling his life and making work very challenging. He said his colleagues thought he was a high achiever but when he got home, he was drinking a bottle of wine just to cope with the anxiety. He said he always felt like he was about to let someone down or be told off.
We only spoke for a few minutes but it was clear that this man was not as confident or happy as he originally appeared.
He was, like many of us, an expert masking and hiding the struggles.
We shook hands a few minutes later, smiled and said âtake careâ, but it was clear we both had a profound impact on each others day, simply by having a 2 minute chat.
Itâs good to chat about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, even if itâs for 2 minutes in a train station. We reminded eachother that weâre not alone, and weâre not crazy.
Thank you for stopping me.
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 4,201
View 137 replies
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