Do people with ADHD have a hard time controlling emotions?

Ugh, emotions. Do people with ADHD have a hard time with them? Let me tell you, yes. A huge yes. It’s like… remember that time I completely lost it at the grocery store because they were out of my favorite brand of organic kale? Yeah, that kind of hard.

It’s not that I’m inherently bad at controlling myself, it’s just… harder. Much harder. I read somewhere – I think it was an ADHD blog, maybe? – that something like two-thirds of adults with ADHD struggle with emotional regulation. That sounds about right, honestly. I mean, 34-70% is a pretty wide range, but it still points to a big problem, doesn’t it? I’ve seen it in myself and countless others. My friend Sarah, for instance, cries at commercials. Sweet, right? Except it’s not always so sweet when she’s crying during a board meeting.

It’s not just big outbursts either. It’s the little things too. The simmering frustration that builds all day, the tiny irritations that snowball into a huge meltdown… It’s exhausting. Seriously, the constant effort to keep things together is draining. It feels like I’m constantly walking a tightrope, one wrong step away from a full-blown emotional explosion. And the guilt afterward? Don’t even get me started on the guilt. So yeah, it’s a real thing. A very real thing.