Emotional reactivity

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Summary

Adults with ADHD may struggle with sudden mood shifts and managing emotions, as well as anger.
Emotion dysregulation is linked to strain at home, work, and in relationships, warranting separate support goals.
ADHD and emotional difficulties do not fully overlap; theories differ on whether these difficulties are core to ADHD.

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Emotional difficulties include sudden shifts, as well as anger

Research-backed

A meta-analysis compared adults diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with healthy controls. The groups differed in emotional lability, negative emotional responses, and emotion recognition (Beheshti et al., 2020).

Emotional lability means sudden shifts in emotion that are hard to control (Shaw et al., 2014). Describing emotional difficulties can include how emotions shift suddenly, alongside how intense anger becomes.

Emotional difficulties are linked to strain across daily life

Proposed in research

Shaw and colleagues’ review found that people with both ADHD and emotion dysregulation had more difficulties with peers, family life, work, and education than those with ADHD alone. Some studies found this association even after accounting for other coexisting disorders (Shaw et al., 2014).

Support goals can therefore include emotions’ effects on relationships and work. An emotional outburst interrupting a conversation is one difficulty worth describing specifically.

Emotional difficulties vary, and explanations differ

Proposed in research

In 2014, Shaw and colleagues compared three explanations: emotion dysregulation is a core ADHD feature; the two are related but separable; or people with both form a distinct subgroup (Shaw et al., 2014).

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