Having a mental disorder is one of the hardest things to explain to others. It’s scrambling for words to describe the feeling of unease and excruciation that this disorder causes when it has heaps of subtle nuances that are often buried underneath the rubble of our psyche.
And on top of it all, there’s the fear that someone will respond negatively because they simply can’t relate or empathize. It’s a lot of things that simply can’t be put into a textbook definition for everyone to understand it. But it is truly a blessing when someone is able to finally put it into perspective—into words that make sense to people on multiple levels.
Twitter user @paintedbees has shared their spot-on explanation of a nuance of ADHD that is often overlooked, but ends up being one of the biggest issues people suffering from this disorder have to deal with. And it resonated with a lot of people on Twitter.
It's hard to put the feeling of having a mental disorder that affects your social and personal life into words
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So, artist and Twitter user @paintedbees shared their take on rejection-sensitive dysphoria, an extreme emotional sensitivity and pain triggered by a perception that a person has been rejected or criticized by people they care about.
Huge emphasis on the perception part here, as it is a conviction that’s often not based on some logical conclusion, but rather on the way the brain perceives the situation for one reason or another. In turn, it calls out a strong emotional response that pushes a person into this vicious spiral of self-loathing, depression, dread, and anxiety.
But sometimes people find the right words, and this Tweeter's explanation of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria has resonated with many
Image credits: paintedbees
“You Feel Like Folks Are Trying To Enjoy Themselves, Not With You But Despite You”
Image credits: Mayastar
In the thread, it’s explained as a feeling as if people are trying to enjoy themselves, but not with an ADHD person, rather despite them. And it is often triggered by an innocuous statement, one that inherently has nothing negative about it. But then perception kicks in and so it begins.
“Your interest in it drops like a stone, you don’t want to be a part anymore. You want to go home, by yourself, and hide from the responsibility of it. What happened? A normal human interaction happened that your brain interpreted as ‘they don’t like what you’re doing. You’re doing it wrong. You’re letting them down.’”
The thread started getting traction among internauts, prompting them to expand with some additional tweets
Image credits: paintedbees
The tweet thread resonated with a lot of people and ended up going viral, garnering over 15,000 likes and 6,400 retweets. It even found its way on to Imgur, where if got over 125,000 views with almost 4,000 upvotes.
Many didn’t even know that this particular nuance was even a thing and that it had a name—rejection-sensitive dysphoria. Many others were thankful for the spot-on explanation as they were looking for words to explain this to others—and by proxy, for people understanding this and relating to it.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comment section below!
Many responded to this thread, thanking for a spot-on explanation, feeling understood and sharing stories
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