ADHD and Emotional Dysregulation

But if you work with ADHD — or live with it — you know that’s incomplete.

Many adults and teens with ADHD struggle most with:

• Emotional reactivity
• Rejection sensitivity
• Irritability
• Shame spirals
• Slow recovery after emotional triggers

So what’s happening neurologically?

To understand ADHD and emotion regulation, it helps to look at the Triple Network Model of brain functioning.

The Triple Network Model (In Plain English)

Neuroscientist Vinod Menon proposed that many psychiatric conditions involve dysregulation in three major brain networks:

Default Mode Network (DMN)

Central Executive Network (CEN)

Salience Network (SN)

Let’s break them down.

1. The Default Mode Network (DMN)

The DMN is active when you’re:

• Reflecting on yourself
• Replaying conversations
• Imagining the future
• Ruminating

It’s your internal narrative network.

In ADHD:

The DMN often doesn’t deactivate properly during tasks.

It can also fuel rumination after emotional triggers.

So after a perceived rejection, the mind may loop:

“I messed up.”

“They don’t like me.”

“This always happens.”

2. The Central Executive Network (CEN)

• Focus
• Plan
• Pause before reacting
• Override impulses
• Use working memory

This is your braking system.

In ADHD:

• This network can be underactive.
• It fatigues quickly.
• It struggles to override emotional impulses.
• So when emotions surge, the brakes are slower.

3. The Salience Network (SN)

The Salience Network decides:

• What matters
• What’s threatening
• What deserves attention
• When to switch between thinking and doing

Where Does the Amygdala Fit?

The amygdala:

• Detects threat
• Scans for social danger
• Activates fight/flight

It communicates closely with the Salience Network.

Think of it as the alarm system.

What Happens During Emotional Reactivity in ADHD?

Let’s map the sequence:

The Salience Network flags something as important

(tone of voice, facial expression, delayed text reply)

The amygdala activates quickly

→ emotional surge

The Executive Network struggles to apply brakes

The Default Mode Network starts telling a story

And suddenly:

• You’re overwhelmed
• Or defensive
• Or spiraling in shame
• Or stuck replaying it hours later

This isn’t a character flaw.

ADHD Is a Network Switching Disorder

In many cases, ADHD is less about “too much emotion” and more about:

• Overactive salience tagging
• Slower executive braking
• Sticky DMN rumination
• Inefficient switching between networks
• Emotion regulation is a coordination task.
• ADHD affects coordination.

Why Stimulants Sometimes Help Emotional Regulation

Stimulants increase dopamine and norepinephrine in the prefrontal cortex.

This can:

• Strengthen executive control
• Improve inhibition
• Reduce emotional impulsivity
• Shorten recovery time

That’s why many people report:

“I’m less reactive on medication.”

Therapy Through the Network Lens

When we teach skills like:

• STOP (pause)
• Naming emotions
• Opposite action
• Mindfulness
• Self-validation

We’re strengthening network flexibility.

We’re not trying to eliminate emotion.

We’re improving coordination.

The Big Reframe

Emotional reactivity in ADHD is not:

• Being dramatic
• Being unstable
• Having a personality disorder by default

It’s:

• A fast alarm
• A slower brake
• And a sticky narrative loop

Understanding that changes everything.