“I’m Overly Emotional, and It’s Straining My Relationships!”

Emotional intensity goes hand-in-hand with ADHD. This makes us more caring, more loving, and more passionate about things that interest us. But ADHD emotionality can also make us more likely to overreact in ways that can damage our relationships with friends, colleagues, and romantic partners.

adhdintheuk

May 4, 2021 at 10:47 am

”The person with ADHD is always responsible for managing his or her behavior. ADHD should never be used as an excuse. Never. Ever. Period.”

I agree ADHD people need to take responsibility for their behavior wherever the situations warrant it – but do all situations always warrant it? For example, isn’t ‘you’re too emotional’ a classic gaslighting statement? ADHD people may be more prone to getting into abusive relationships and justifying such statements because of our disability. I appreciate this article covers the topic very generally – but I think nuance is always important. Empathetic, perfectionistic ADHD’ers might find it nigh on impossible to identify situations where neutral behaviour: challenging their partner, crying or worrying because of something they did etc, are not their responsibility (or a mutual responsibility between all people in question.)

Life is complicated. I’m inclined to be wary of point blank statements, however well intentioned.