The Neuroscience Behind Being "Too Sensitive" (with Dr. Sasha Hamdani)

This week Kristin and I sat down with Dr. Sasha Hamdani, a board-certified psychiatrist, ADHD expert, and author of the new book Too Sensitive: Rejection, Resilience, and the Science of Feeling Deeply. Sasha breaks down the actual neuroscience behind why some of us feel emotions so intensely, and gave us some genuinely useful tools for dealing with it. We also got a proper medical explanation for hangxiety, which, as someone who has experienced it, I found extremely validating.

Sasha also walked us through rejection sensitive dysphoria, its connection to ADHD, and her own long and slightly chaotic road to getting diagnosed at 40. And look, I'll admit that by the end of this conversation I may have lost an ongoing argument with Kristin about whether or not I have anxiety.

Takeaways:

Emotional sensitivity has a neurological basis involving a hyper-responsive amygdala and an under-responsive prefrontal cortex.

Cyclic sighing, a specific breathing technique, can help calm the nervous system and re-engage logical thinking during moments of panic.

Rejection sensitive dysphoria is closely linked to ADHD and can be one of the most limiting aspects of the condition for many people.

"Hangxiety" occurs because alcohol interacts with GABA receptors similarly to anti-anxiety medications, leading to a rebound anxiety effect the next morning.

Delaying your response to conflict or bad news allows alarm chemicals to subside, leading to a calmer, more rational reaction.

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