The Forums › Forums › Emotional Journey › Is It Just Me? › Short Temper › Re: Short Temper
I’ve been editing interviews of ADHD experts for a number of days, and the issue of anger was addressed by a few of them.
One said that it may have something to do with finding the world constantly frustrating. The modern world is so regimented and yet so full of stimulation and distractions, it’s a challenge for anyone. Thus everyone is going around flippantly joking, “Oh you are so ADD!” whenever someone spaces out. So everyone’s overwhelmed. We’re just much worse.
Another explanation is that we aren’t good at long term thinking of planning or regulating things… including our moods.
And then there’s a sense that we have trouble filtering out the signal from all the noise. That can mean having trouble following someone’s conversation when it’s a noisy room, or even when it’s not, all the way up to deciding to go see a movie rather than prepare the report that is due tomorrow) So we are always a bit frustrated, a bit extra on edge.
Another thing that seems to be common is that we are hypersensitive to smells, sounds, touch, etc.. So we get jangled easily. And therefore grumpy.
Then there’s the issue of us getting hyper-focused. It could be on a video game. Or gambling. Or surfing for porn. Or it could be hyper-focused on an argument, or something someone said, etc.. When my marriage ended, I spent hours and hours pacing my new little apartment, having all kinds of imaginary arguments, justifying my position, imagining all the things I should say, or should have said, or whatever. (You can imagine how useful that was. I got to wallow in bad bad karma and toxic chemicals all through my body for weeks, even months on end.)
If you look at the opposite extreme, someone who is totally focussed, the image that comes to mind for me is a monk, meditating. Calm and peaceful and no anger. In fact, someone who is almost transparent to upsets and problems and allows them to pass right through without getting hooked on them.
And I have to say, I’m not a monk, but I’m more like this, happier and more peaceful, than I ever used to be.
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