/* Loops — "Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria With ADHD" — mechanism explainer page. Emotionally exposed topic: validate intensity without overclaiming clinical status. Honest that "RSD" is a contested, informal term; underlying pain is well documented. Unique section: the label vs. the experience. */ /* ---------------- Page nav ---------------- */ const RSD_NAV_LINKS = [ { label: "How it works", href: "#how" }, { label: "What's happening", href: "#why" }, { label: "Questions", href: "#faq" }, { label: "For ADHD", href: "/adhd/#directory" }, { label: "Knowledge Hub", href: "/adhd/knowledge-hub/" }, { label: "Blog", href: "/blog/" }, ]; const RsdNav = () => { const [open, setOpen] = React.useState(false); const [scrolled, setScrolled] = React.useState(false); React.useEffect(() => { const onScroll = () => setScrolled(window.scrollY > 8); onScroll(); window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll, { passive: true }); return () => window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); }, []); React.useEffect(() => { if (!open) return; const onKey = (e) => e.key === "Escape" && setOpen(false); document.body.style.overflow = "hidden"; document.addEventListener("keydown", onKey); return () => { document.body.style.overflow = ""; document.removeEventListener("keydown", onKey); }; }, [open]); return (
Loops
); }; /* ---------------- Hero ---------------- */ const RSD_HERO_BLOCKS = [ { title: "A real, documented experience", body: "Not oversensitivity. A pattern with genuine research behind the underlying phenomenon.", icon: (), }, { title: "Named honestly", body: "RSD isn't a formal diagnosis. What it describes is real, even where the label is still contested.", icon: (), }, { title: "Support for the moment before", body: "Help for the anticipation, not just the aftermath, so the fear of a reaction doesn't stop you acting.", icon: (), }, ]; const RsdHero = () => (
Designed for ADHD. Works for everyone.

The pain feels bigger than the moment. That doesn't mean it isn't real.

"Rejection sensitive dysphoria" describes something a lot of people with ADHD recognise instantly: intense, disproportionate pain around criticism, rejection, or even the anticipation of it. Here's what's actually known, what isn't, and what tends to help.

7-day free trial. No complicated setup.
{/* Three icon blocks */}
{RSD_HERO_BLOCKS.map((b) => (
{b.icon}

{b.title}

{b.body}

))}

Loops is a daily coaching app for people with ADHD.
); /* ---------------- What Loops does ---------------- */ const RsdWhatLoopsDoes = () => (
How Loops helps

Coaching for the moment right before, not just comfort after.

For a lot of people, the hardest part isn't the actual criticism or rejection. It's the anticipation beforehand, the moment before sending a message, sharing work, or asking for something, when the imagined reaction already feels unbearable.

Loops helps you move through that moment: a small, structured next step, coaching that takes the intensity seriously without amplifying it, and a way back in when a reaction does land hard.

); /* ---------------- Recognition (6 cards) ---------------- */ const RSD_RECOGNITION = [ "A short, neutral reply gets read five times, each time hunting for a colder meaning that probably isn't there.", "You've stopped sharing certain ideas or work, not because you don't believe in them, but because a lukewarm response would hurt more than not trying.", "Mild feedback at work sits with you for days, replaying, even when you know rationally it wasn't a big deal.", "You know the reaction feels bigger than the moment deserves. Knowing that doesn't make it smaller.", "A delayed reply from a friend or partner can spiral into a genuine conviction that something's wrong, before there's any actual evidence of that.", "You've been called \u201Ctoo sensitive\u201D enough times that you've started policing your own reactions before anyone else gets the chance to.", ]; const RsdRecognition = () => (
Does any of this sound familiar?

You're not alone in this.

These are the patterns people with ADHD describe most often around rejection and criticism.

{RSD_RECOGNITION.map((t, i) => (

{t}

))}

This isn't oversensitivity or a character flaw. Heightened pain around rejection and criticism is a well-documented pattern in ADHD, even though the exact label for it is still debated.

); /* ---------------- What's actually happening (5 stages) ---------------- */ const RSD_PATTERNS = [ { title: "The underlying experience is real and well supported", body: "Heightened sensitivity to criticism, rejection, and perceived failure is consistently described in research and community accounts of ADHD. Adults with ADHD report lower self-compassion and higher perceived criticism than the general population, both linked to worse mental health outcomes, which supports the phenomenon even before any specific label is applied to it." }, { title: "The specific term is genuinely contested", body: "\u201CRejection sensitive dysphoria\u201D isn't a formal diagnostic category, and current scholarship notes a lack of consensus on how it should even be defined. This doesn't make the pain less real. It means the label functions as useful shorthand for something genuine, rather than as an established clinical diagnosis." }, { title: "Anticipation is often worse than the event itself", body: "For many people, the anticipation of a negative reaction is reported as feeling as painful as the reaction actually happening. This makes the moment right before sharing, asking, or sending disproportionately high-stakes, independent of how the situation is actually likely to go." }, { title: "Emotional dysregulation is the better-supported underlying mechanism", body: "Rather than a single distinct construct, much of what gets labelled RSD sits within the broader, better-evidenced pattern of emotional dysregulation in adult ADHD. A 2023 systematic review found more frequent use of non-adaptive emotional strategies, suppression, rumination, catastrophising, self-blame, among adults with ADHD, which offers a more solid explanation than any single named syndrome." }, { title: "It amplifies whatever else is already happening", body: "This pattern doesn't sit in isolation. It tends to intensify grief, workplace stress, relationship friction, and the fear of sharing creative or professional work. A neutral piece of feedback or a delayed reply can become disproportionately painful precisely because this amplification effect is already active underneath it." }, ]; const RsdWhyItHappens = () => (
Understanding the pattern

It's not that you're too sensitive. It's a documented pattern, with a genuinely contested name.

"Rejection sensitive dysphoria" is one of the most emotionally resonant terms in ADHD conversation, and one of the most worth explaining honestly.

    {RSD_PATTERNS.map((p, i) => (
  1. {String(i + 1).padStart(2, "0")}

    {p.title}

    {p.body}

    2. ))}

Loops is built to support the moment before the fear takes over, not to explain the feeling away.

); /* ---------------- Unique section: the label vs. the experience ---------------- */ const RsdReframe = () => (
Something worth knowing before anything else

The name is contested. The pain isn't.

It's worth being precise about something most content on this topic glosses over. "Rejection sensitive dysphoria" is not a formally recognised diagnosis, and clinicians and researchers genuinely disagree about how it should be defined or whether it should be treated as a distinct condition at all.

That disagreement is about the label, not about whether the underlying pain is real. The intense distress around criticism, rejection, and perceived failure is well supported by research on emotional dysregulation and criticism sensitivity in adult ADHD. Getting this distinction right matters, because it means the most useful support isn't a diagnosis-chasing search for the exact right term. It's addressing the actual, well-evidenced mechanism underneath it.

); /* ---------------- How it works (4 steps) ---------------- */ const RSD_STEPS = [ { t: "Name the thing you're avoiding because of how it might land", b: "A message, an application, sharing a piece of work. No need to explain the feeling first, just the task." }, { t: "Get a small, structured next step", b: "Not \u201Cjust send it.\u201D A specific, lower-stakes version of the action that makes starting less loaded." }, { t: "Get coached through the anticipation", b: "Loops helps you move through the moment before, rather than waiting for the fear to pass on its own." }, { t: "Get a shame-safe way back in if a reaction does land hard", b: "If it does hurt, Loops helps you recover and re-engage, rather than letting one hard moment become a reason to stop trying altogether." }, ]; const RsdHowItWorks = () => (
Getting started

Support for the moment before, and a way back in after.

You don't need the feeling to disappear before you can act. Loops works alongside it.

    {RSD_STEPS.map((s, i) => (
  1. {i + 1} Step {i + 1}

    {s.t}

    {s.b}

    2. ))}

You don't need to feel ready. A small next step is enough to start with.

); /* ---------------- Social proof ---------------- */ const RSD_TESTIMONIALS = [ { quote: "I spent years thinking I was just too sensitive. Finding out the pain was real, even if the label is still debated, took a weight off I didn't know I was carrying.", who: "Content designer", meta: "Diagnosed with ADHD at 33" }, { quote: "The anticipation was always worse than what actually happened. Having something help me through the moment before sending a message changed how often I actually send it.", who: "Product manager", meta: "Using Loops for 9 weeks" }, { quote: "I used to disappear for a week after one piece of critical feedback. Having a small way back in, instead of just waiting it out alone, made an enormous difference.", who: "Photographer and small business owner, Leeds", meta: null }, ]; const RsdSocialProof = () => (
What people say

From people who recognise themselves in this.

{RSD_TESTIMONIALS.map((t, i) => (
{t.quote}
{t.who}
{t.meta ?
{t.meta}
: null}
))}
); /* ---------------- Objections (4, incl. safeguarding link) ---------------- */ const RSD_OBJECTIONS = [ { q: "\u201CIs this even a real thing, or is it just something from TikTok?\u201D", a: "The underlying pain is genuinely well supported. The specific label is more contested than the feeling itself. Heightened sensitivity to criticism and rejection in ADHD is documented in research on emotional dysregulation and self-compassion, even though \u201Crejection sensitive dysphoria\u201D as a named, distinct condition isn't formally recognised." }, { q: "\u201CAm I just being too sensitive?\u201D", a: "No. What you're describing fits a well-documented pattern, not a personal flaw. Naming it as a pattern rather than a character trait is often the first useful step." }, { q: "\u201CWhat if my reactions feel bigger than this page describes?\u201D", a: "That's worth taking seriously. If rejection or criticism is triggering distress that feels overwhelming, prolonged, or is affecting your daily functioning, speaking with a doctor or a therapist is a genuinely good idea. Loops works well alongside professional support, but it isn't a substitute for it.", link: { label: "Find help and support resources", href: "/support/find-help/" } }, { q: "\u201CWhat if I'm not diagnosed with ADHD?\u201D", a: "You don't need a diagnosis. Many people using Loops are on waiting lists, self-identifying, or simply recognise these patterns as familiar. If that's you, Loops is built for you." }, ]; const RsdObjections = () => (
A few things worth knowing

Common questions before you start

{RSD_OBJECTIONS.map((o) => ( ))}
); /* ---------------- FAQ accordion ---------------- */ const RSD_FAQS = [ { q: "What is rejection sensitive dysphoria?", a: "It's a widely used, informal term describing intense emotional pain in response to perceived or actual rejection, criticism, or failure. It isn't a formal clinical diagnosis, but the underlying experience is well supported by research on emotional dysregulation in adult ADHD." }, { q: "Is rejection sensitive dysphoria a recognised diagnosis?", a: "No. It isn't included in formal diagnostic manuals, and researchers disagree about how it should be defined. The distress it describes is real and documented, even though the specific label remains informal." }, { q: "Why does ADHD cause this kind of sensitivity?", a: "It's linked to broader emotional dysregulation in ADHD, which involves more frequent use of non-adaptive emotional strategies such as rumination, catastrophising, and self-blame, alongside lower self-compassion and higher perceived criticism." }, { q: "Why does anticipating rejection sometimes feel worse than the actual event?", a: "Many people describe the anticipation of a negative reaction as feeling as painful as the reaction itself, which makes the moment right before an action, sending, sharing, asking, disproportionately high-stakes." }, { q: "Do I need an ADHD diagnosis to use Loops?", a: "No. Loops is designed first for people with ADHD but doesn't require a formal diagnosis. If the experiences described here feel familiar, Loops is built for you." }, { q: "Should I see a doctor or therapist as well?", a: "If this kind of sensitivity is causing significant distress or affecting your daily life, yes. Loops is a daily coaching tool that works well alongside professional support, but it's not a replacement for it." }, ]; const RsdFAQItem = ({ q, a, defaultOpen }) => (
{q}

{a}

); const RsdFAQ = () => (
FAQ

Questions people often ask

Still wondering if Loops fits how your brain works? Contact us. A real person will reply.

{RSD_FAQS.map((f, i) => )}
); /* ---------------- Final CTA ---------------- */ const RsdFinalCTA = () => (
One small step at a time

Send it anyway. Share it anyway.

Not a promise the feeling disappears. Support for the moment it usually stops you.

7-day free trial. No complicated setup. Takes a few minutes.
); /* ---------------- Related pages ---------------- */ const RSD_RELATED = [ { t: "Share your work with ADHD", d: "Rejection sensitivity at the threshold of putting something out there.", href: "/adhd/share-your-work-with-adhd/" }, { t: "Building better relationships with ADHD", d: "The amplification gap, and how it shapes closeness and conflict.", href: "/adhd/building-better-relationships/" }, { t: "Growing an audience with ADHD", d: "Public rejection, feedback, and carrying on after it lands.", href: "/adhd/growing-an-audience-with-adhd/" }, { t: "Heal after loss with ADHD", d: "How rejection sensitivity can act as a grief amplifier.", href: "/adhd/heal-after-loss/" }, ]; const RsdRelated = () => ( ); /* ---------------- App ---------------- */ function RsdApp() { return (
); } const rsdRoot = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById("root")); rsdRoot.render();