ADHD and Emotional Regulation. A 'Mind the Kids' podcast

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Why do so many young people with ADHD find it harder to bounce back from difficult emotions — and what can actually help?

This episode of the Mind the Kids podcast features Professor Aja Murray, Professor of Developmental Psychology of Mental Health at the University of Edinburgh's School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences. Aja's research examines mental health across the lifespan, with a particular focus on the links between ADHD symptoms and co-occurring mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, especially during adolescence.

Hosted by Mark Tebbs, the conversation explores the Mental Health in the Moment ADHD (MHIM-ADHD) programme of research, funded by the Medical Research Foundation, conducted with colleagues including Dejla Hoxha and Daria Melashenko at the University of Edinburgh and Amanda Russell at Northumbria University, alongside guidance from the project's young person and lived-experience advisory group.

The discussion opens by unpacking two key terms: ADHD, characterised by difficulties with attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity and diagnosed in up to around 8% of children and adolescents globally, and emotion dysregulation, the breakdown of the processes people use to identify, manage and respond to their emotions. Aja explains how emotion dysregulation, while not a core symptom of ADHD, is a commonly associated feature that can show up as intense or changeable emotions, emotions that take longer to settle, or emotionally driven behaviour such as lashing out.

Drawing on ecological momentary assessment methods that capture emotion regulation as it unfolds in daily life, alongside longitudinal data, Aja shares findings on how emotion dysregulation sits on the pathway between ADHD symptoms and elevated risk of anxiety and depression, and how patterns like rumination are a particularly important feature of this pathway. The conversation also explores rejection sensitivity dysphoria — the tendency to anxiously or angrily anticipate social rejection — a concept gaining significant attention within the ADHD community. The project's lived-experience advisory group specifically recommended including a measure of rejection sensitivity, informed by broader work on co-producing adolescent mental health research with young people (Health Expectations). Findings show rejection sensitivity dysphoria is linked to more negative emotions day to day, but that positive peer interactions can buffer this effect, pointing to peer acceptance as a promising avenue for support.

Aja also sets out practical, evidence-based strategies for adolescents with ADHD and the adults who support them, including cognitive reappraisal, techniques for interrupting rumination, acceptance, square breathing, and the "grounding" 5-4-3-2-1 technique. The conversation covers the crucial role of parents and caregivers in modelling emotion regulation, understanding how the ADHD brain processes emotion, and responding supportively rather than dismissively to emotional expression — plus a look at positive emotion regulation, including noticing, savouring and sharing good moments. Aja closes with an update on the team's emerging work on teacher relationships, autistic traits, and a co-produced digital emotion regulation app for adolescents with ADHD.

This conversation is essential listening for clinicians, researchers, educators, and parents and caregivers interested in child and adolescent mental health, ADHD, emotion regulation, and rejection sensitivity dysphoria. It offers a clear, hopeful message: emotion regulation is a skill that can be learned, practised, and strengthened over time.

Learn more about the MHIM-ADHD study protocol: 'Illuminating the daily life experiences of adolescents with and without ADHD: protocol for an ecological momentary assessment study', Aja Murray, Lydia Speyer, Melissa Thye, et al. BMJ Open, published 29 September 2023. https: