Imagine a nail jabbing at a shiny blue balloon.
Pop!
That’s what rejection can feel like for someone with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, one TikTok creator told his audience: an explosion of emotions.
The clip, which has nearly 300,000 likes, is one of thousands of posts about “rejection sensitive dysphoria,” or R.S.D.
The term is rarely used by clinicians. You won’t find it in the manual to diagnose and classify mental health conditions. But references to R.S.D. have percolated online, especially on social media.
And for some people with A.D.H.D., the concept hits home.
What is rejection sensitive dysphoria?
R.S.D. describes an intense emotional reaction to rejection, teasing, criticism or the perception that you have failed.
Erin Ryder, 24, a teacher in the metro Detroit area with A.D.H.D, said that R.S.D. gave a name to the “extremely emotional” way she reacted to feeling dismissed.
“I just immediately go to: ‘This is the end of the world,’” she said.
When her boyfriend recently asked to postpone their plans after a long workweek, she said, negative thoughts flooded her brain and she obsessed over why he had canceled. Later, she realized her response was over the top. But in the moment, she said, “I just flipped.”