The Emotional Rollercoaster: Coping with Mood Swings and Intense Feelings with ADHD

Iqra Shaikh 20.September.2025 0 comments

The Emotional Rollercoaster: Coping with Mood Swings and Intense Feelings with ADHD

When some people picture ADHD, they probably imagine hyperactivity or an inability to focus. But an under-discussed, but equally devastating, feature of the disorder is emotional dysregulation. This means feeling emotions more strongly than those considered neurotypical and struggling to process these intense feelings. Minor annoyances can turn into mountains of rage, and little things that don’t go as planned can make you feel as if you’ve been punched in the gut. These roller coaster emotions can sometimes be intense and fast followed, and they come with a reality all their own, and can take a toll on life, work, and mental health. This emotional stimulation is key to ratcheting up intensity, and recognising and devising ways to mitigate that is a fundamental component of managing ADHD and moving toward creating a more regulated life.

Understanding Emotional Dysregulation

Emotional dysregulation in ADHD is not a character defect or evidence that one is too dramatic. A neurological symptom associated with the lack of executive function produces inattention and impulsivity. The section of the brain that manages our feelings, the prefrontal cortex, has been proven to be much weaker in those people who have ADHD. This can result in a situation where the emotional response system is very responsive, but the braking system is sluggish.” One well-known example of this is Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), where individuals get a debilitating emotional pain when they think of themselves as being rejected or criticized by others. It’s not just disappointment — the feeling can be sickening and come with a deep sense of shame. The first and most crucial step to managing them is to recognise that these feelings are a part of your ADHD, not a character flaw.

Immediate Coping Strategies

The idea is that when you sense yourself getting swept up in strong emotion, try to put a bit of space between the feeling and your response. This pause allows your brain to catch up and adjust. Deep breathing is a simple way to start. Slowly inhale on a four count, hold for four, and exhale over six. This triggers your parasympathetic nervous system, reducing your body’s stress response. Another powerful strategy is grounding. Attempt the 5-4-3-2-1 approach: tell me five things you see, four things you feel, three things you hear, two things you smell, and one thing you taste. This distracts your mind from the overpowering emotion and brings you back to the present. Lastly, if you can, switch your settings. Take a break for a moment, head to another room, or even splash your face with water. Physically moving your body this way can interrupt the emotional loop long enough to give yourself some breathing room.

Long-Term Management and Resilience

While short-term coping is essential, it’s long-term resilience that really matters. Among them is the practice of mindfulness. Regular mindfulness, even five or ten minutes daily, can help you become more aware of your emotions popping up before they spiral out of control. Constancy of exercise is yet another potent remedy. It modulates neurotransmitters and can be a healthy vent for pent-up energy and frustration. Prioritizing sleep is also non-negotiable. If you’re consistently sleep deprived, it can wreak havoc on emotional regulation, leaving you prone to mood swings. Finally, it is not a bad idea to consult a professional. A specialist in ADHD – especially if they use therapeutic approaches like CBT or DBT – can offer you a framework to start to make sense of and then manage your own emotional responses. If you layer these habits with in-the-moment practices, you’ll be able to feel your feelings and experience yourself with looser, more fluid, more grounded sea legs beneath you.

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