(2018-08-16) Alexander Ssc Survey Results Adhd And Rejection Sensitivity

Scott Alexander: SSC Survey Results: ADHD (ADD) And Rejection Sensitivity. Dr. William Dodson pushes a different conception, where one of the key features of ADHD is “rejection-sensitive dysphoria”, ie people with the condition are much less able to tolerate social rejection, and more likely to find it unbearable and organize their lives around avoiding it. He doesn’t deny the attention and focus symptoms; he just thinks that rejection sensitivity needs to be considered a key part of the disorder.

the genesis is just Dr. Dodson saying so, with limited formal evidence

I am skeptical of the rejection-sensitive dysphoria concept. Part of it is the lack of evidence beyond Dr. Dodson’s personal experience, which my own personal experience contradicts

But part of it is that it seems suspicious for the Forer Effect, the tendency for everyone to believe a generic statement describes them especially. This effect is beloved of psychics – tell a client a few Forer statements and they’ll walk out convinced you can read minds

Here is Forer’s original list of statements that produce the effect:

The first statement sounds a lot like rejection sensitivity