These feelings can override other, more logical responses and end up hurting sound relationships.
This article explains what rejection sensitivity is, what causes it, and the conditions it is associated with.
It also discusses ways to cope if you react excessively to feelings or thoughts of rejection.
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It involves habitually experiencing extreme emotions that are disproportionate to the situation at hand.
The extreme emotional sensitivity and pain can lead to instantaneous despair or instantaneous rage.
Rejection sensitivity is ultimately a predisposition to expect and strongly react to being rejected.
They also have a reduced ability to consider any other possible explanations for the behaviors.
In seeking reassurance that the relationship is solid, a person with relationship sensitivity might appear desperate or clingy.
Even then, the underlying fear of being dropped may lead them to seek constant reassurance.
Trauma
For some people, rejection sensitivity may be a response to a prior emotional or physicaltrauma.
Feelings of rejection have been found to activate different parts of the brain that regulate emotional processing.
Similarly, activation of the amygdala might release traumatic memories that are then attached to current feelings.
From the perspective of brain chemistry, emotional pain often causes more brain wave activity than physical pain.
It is used largely in the context of ADHD but is increasingly being associated with other mental disorders.
It is also seen to be a facet of autism, classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder.
People with ADHD often have amplified emotions, transforming everyday feelings into deeply intense onesboth positive and negative.
The same can occur when someone with ADHD is faced with feelings of rejection.
Relationship Sensitivity and Autism
Relationship sensitivity is also thought to be linked to autism.
Children with autism might also process emotions differently, especially when they have difficulty interpreting social cues.
Biology may not be the only explanation for relationship sensitivity in autism.
This can fuel perceptions that they were “meant” to be rejected.
This can lead to heightened emotions and trigger feelings, particularly those involving rejection and abandonment.
This is called rejection sensitivity.
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