ADHDifference - BIG EMOTIONS

ADHDifference

Julie Legg and Jel Legg discuss the big emotions that can accompany ADHD – emotional dysregulation, and the challenges faced when exhibiting them.
They chat about love, fear, excitement, sadness, and anger, along with the roller-coaster of overwhelm frequently experienced. They discuss the time it takes to process feelings and the triggers that make them explode, often in the most unexpected situations.
Topics discussed in this episode:

• Positive and negative outcomes of big emotions.
• Why they think ADHD emotions often are explosive and appear at unexpected moments.
• The unlikely triggers that observers may puzzle over or may find irrational.
• Needing time to process feelings.
• How we can be emotionless in a crisis.

Key takeaways:

• Everyone, including neurotypicals, can have big emotions. Those with ADHD are likely to experience heightened emotions frequently without being able to regulate them, often observed by some as irrational and ‘over the smallest of things.’
• In the DSM-5 examples of big emotions are noted as having frequent mood swings, irritability and having a quick temper – often with a negative outcome. People with ADHD can experience an array of emotions in a heightened manner, including excitement, joy, love too.
• For many with ADHD it takes time to process feelings, often bottling them up until they spill over in an unexpected manner.

Links:
Julie is the author of THE MISSING PIECE: A Woman's Guide to Understanding, Diagnosing and Living with ADHD (Harper Collins, 2024)
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