GoKawiilResearch links rejection sensitivity to ADHD, autism and giftedness in children
A review describes rejection sensitivity as a heightened tendency to perceive and react intensely to rejection, which falls on a spectrum most people experience to some degree. It also discusses Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), a term coined by psychiatrist William Dodson for the severe, often physically painful reaction to perceived rejection reported by many people with ADHD, and notes that roughly a third of adolescents and adults with ADHD surveyed called it their most impairing symptom. The piece stresses RSD is not a formal diagnosis and that the pattern commonly overlaps across ADHD, autism, giftedness and twice-exceptional populations.