Just like everyone else, those of us with ADHD/ADD have emotions of our own. We are human beings too, after all. Nothing unusual about having emotions and feelings. However, there is a difference with how we feel our emotions. The way we feel them and express them may be slightly different from how others do.
Those of you who are reading this and do have ADHD/ADD know what I’m talking about it. You experience this first hand. For those of you who don’t, I will try to explain as best as I can.
ADHD/ADD affects so many different aspects of our lives. This obviously includes our emotions, and it affects our emotions in a few different ways.
One of the first things to know is that we ADHDers/ADDers feel emotions intensely. More so than neurotypical individuals, people who don’t have ADHD/ADD. I’m not saying that my husband, for instance, who doesn’t have ADHD, doesn’t feel emotions intensely. It’s just that I feel most emotions, if not all, more intensely than he does. Feeling emotions more intensely does seem to go hand in hand with ADHD/ADD.
Another aspect involving emotions is that the part of the brain that deal with emotional information don’t quite work so well for those of us with ADHD. Because it doesn’t work as others or perhaps the way it should, it means that one momentary emotion will simply become one intense emotion and will just take over inside our brains and inside of us.
These are just some of the reasons why we feel emotions differently and more intensely.
Sure, feeling emotions intensely can be good, especially when we are happy, or curious, or feeling more positive emotions. However, it is a real struggle when we are upset or angry. We know we shouldn’t be throwing things or yelling when we are really angry. But because it is a struggle to manage our feelings, we can’t always stop ourselves. We do know right from wrong.
Our brain just works differently and is different. Our ADHD brains don’t always process information the same as neurotypical brains do.
It can be quite a struggle. Especially when we are feeling upset, for instance.
However, no matter how difficult it may seem or feel, there are ways for us to manage our emotions. We can go for walks, taking our medications (for those of us who chose to take them), therapy, just to give a few suggestions. There are others ways, and perhaps not all of them may help each of us. What may help me may not be as helpful to someone else with ADHD/ADD to manage their emotions. But these are just some methods to use to help us with our emotions.
At the end of the day, we are different, and our brains process emotions differently. There are ways for us to help us manage our emotions. There isn’t any best way of doing it, but we just need to find one that helps us the most.
For those of you who may want to read some more articles on the subject, here are a few more.
www.additudemag.com/adhd-emotional-regulation-video
www.additudemag.com/emotional-symptoms-video
www.additudemag.com/managing-intense-adhd-emotions
Picture credit: Pixabay
2 Comments
Very interesting! I never really thought about someone with ADHD experiencing emotions differently. Seeing as I’ll be teaching this year, I’ll be sure to remember it 🙂
It’s not something that a lot of people think about. I do hope that it comes in handy when you’re teaching.