Episode Summary:



Having big emotions or feelings is not a failure for ADHD adults. The challenge is being able to take the step you want after the surge in emotions that is in alignment with your values.



I’ll look at different strategies you can use to help you shorten the spikes, steady your focus, and recover faster so you can do this with greater ease.



Then you will feel calmer, keep perspective in the moment, and protect your relationships. 



What You’ll Learn About ADHD and Emotional Dysregulation:




* How to feel calmer, keep context in mind, and choose to respond the way you want.



* The role CBT and DBT therapy can play in teaching skills you can use to regulate your emotions.



* How to externalize cues you can use to remind you of why you want to regulate your emotions, and how to do that



* The role that mindfulness, sleep, exercise, food, and water can play in giving you a more stable baseline.



* How medication may help as one option among many to shrink reactivity.




Transcript – ADHD and Emotional Dysregulation



(00:03):



Emotions and feelings are obviously not right or wrong, but I know you want to express them in a way that aligns with your values, right? You want to be in the driver’s seat, not your emotions.



You’ve tuned into Reimagining Productivity with ADHD, a podcast for ADHD adults like you who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills to be able to get your essential work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins, an ADHD and Productivity coach, and I’m glad you decided to join me today on this journey to finding your way to doing what matters most to you without trying to do it like everyone else.



Most adults with ADHD that I work with, either individually or in a group, tell me that they’re not impulsive, and it’s usually true when it comes to emotions.



(00:56):



You also may not express your feelings impulsively, at least externally, but if you experience emotional dysregulation, as many ADHD adults do, your emotions may come on impulsively, though you are able to contain them for the most part. Maybe it’s in the form of an unseen but stormy undercurrent that you can feel acutely.



Whether it’s externalized or internalized, the result is that you are distracted by the pull of the emotion and probably unable to focus and attend to what you want. Outwardly, it may look like slowly disengaging or maybe even shutting down. Whether others recognize it or not, you may eventually even leave the situation entirely.



And this comes as a result of low frustration tolerance and impatience, as well as reactivity that is just common for ADHD adults. If it feels as though your emotions are bigger and last longer than your neurotypical peers, it’s because they likely do.



(02:05): Is emotional dysregulation part of adult ADHD



One reason is that your internal systems are prone to hyperarousal because of your ADHD brain chemistry, and this can apply equally to what you may call positive or negative emotions. So when you’re happy in the moment, you may feel like you can conquer anything, and when you’re mad or sad, in some sort of distress, you may feel like the world is going to end, the sky is falling, and there’s nothing you can do about it.



Sound familiar?