Your boss asked you for a chat, and you just knew you were going to be fired
You didn’t sleep all weekend, and you weren’t fired
Someone answered your message with a thumbs-up emoji and you just knew they hated you.
So you stopped talking to them, they eventually stopped texting, and now you miss them like crazy
Someone went for a bathroom break mid-film, and you just knew it’s because they think your taste in films is terrible
You were so upset you missed the rest of the film, and they left early
Rejection is physically painful for you. Even the most minor criticism stings. And why wouldn’t it? By the time you were 12, you’d received 20,000 negative messages about yourself, your brain and your unique ADHD way of living life.
20,000.
Alex Partridge knows how it feels to live with Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), the state of emotional dysregulation experienced by almost everyone with ADHD. Throughout his journey from successful entrepreneur to neurodiversity campaigner and host of the hugely successful ADHD Chatter, Alex has been haunted by the fear of rejection, labelled ‘over-sensitive’, and fought constantly against the desire to people-please and protect himself from emotional harm.
In Why Does Everybody Hate Me? Alex draws on his own experience of RSD, and shares how it’s coloured every aspect of his life, from his days as founder of the global social media content brands UniLad and LadBible, to his adult relationships, his mental health struggles and his terrible imposter syndrome. He’ll use the insights he’s gained from the world’s top experts on ADHD to share with you some simple steps to regaining your boundaries, your confidence and your self-belief.
You are not ‘too sensitive’ – nor are you broken. You were always enough.
You didn’t sleep all weekend, and you weren’t fired
Someone answered your message with a thumbs-up emoji and you just knew they hated you.
So you stopped talking to them, they eventually stopped texting, and now you miss them like crazy
Someone went for a bathroom break mid-film, and you just knew it’s because they think your taste in films is terrible
You were so upset you missed the rest of the film, and they left early
Rejection is physically painful for you. Even the most minor criticism stings. And why wouldn’t it? By the time you were 12, you’d received 20,000 negative messages about yourself, your brain and your unique ADHD way of living life.
20,000.
Alex Partridge knows how it feels to live with Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), the state of emotional dysregulation experienced by almost everyone with ADHD. Throughout his journey from successful entrepreneur to neurodiversity campaigner and host of the hugely successful ADHD Chatter, Alex has been haunted by the fear of rejection, labelled ‘over-sensitive’, and fought constantly against the desire to people-please and protect himself from emotional harm.
In Why Does Everybody Hate Me? Alex draws on his own experience of RSD, and shares how it’s coloured every aspect of his life, from his days as founder of the global social media content brands UniLad and LadBible, to his adult relationships, his mental health struggles and his terrible imposter syndrome. He’ll use the insights he’s gained from the world’s top experts on ADHD to share with you some simple steps to regaining your boundaries, your confidence and your self-belief.
You are not ‘too sensitive’ – nor are you broken. You were always enough.
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Reviews
[Alex's book] is thorough, articulate, beautifully written, and validating for people with RSD. It is perfectly crafted for all those whose lives are distorted by perceptions of being hated, but who here can feel seen and accepted. A wonderful and much needed contribution.
RSD is very real; Alex knows what he is talking about, and is a crucial voice on neurodivergence. This book is a great tonic for anyone who struggles with rejection.
It takes a true visionary and a genuinely passionate advocate to take on something as painfully misunderstood as Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, and Alex Partridge is that person. This passionate and profoundly moving book speaks directly to all those who struggle with one of the most challenging elements of ADHD, reassuring them that their lives do not need to be blighted by these awful feelings and offering them a guiding light in the darkness. Brilliant, honest, beautiful, and essential reading for all of us in the ADHD community - and beyond.
So few people understand how painful RSD is to live with, and how it can affect every part of someone's life. Alex really gets it. By bringing RSD out of the shadows in this brilliant book, he takes away the stigma and the shame, replacing them with compassion, understanding and hope.
Alex is so good at opening up the conversation about the most difficult and distressing parts of life with ADHD - this is such a helpful book for anyone who wonders why they constantly feel so ashamed and broken. Lots of practical advice, lots of kind words to support the reader - this book will make a huge difference to very many people.
Once again Alex has produced a book that is essential reading for people who are living with ADHD. Understanding RSD is vital for the person who has ADHD and the people in the lives of someone who has ADHD. Alex explains with kindness,compassion and wit, how to live with RSD and no, everyone doesn't hate you, it's RSD!
RSD is a very real threat to the mental health of so many people - it's hard to understand the almost-physical pain that rejection can cause unless you've experienced it yourself, thousands of times. Why Does Everybody Hate Me? is a long-overdue and much-needed book: finally, someone is talking about the huge emotional burden that the neurodiverse community carries, and offering compassion, support and advice that can genuinely make a difference.
In a world with plenty of information, you can trust Alex to really care about helping people with ADHD symptoms such as RSD not feel alone, providing hope that progress, not perfection, is the safest goal.
This book is a must-read for anyone who has ADHD, loves someone with ADHD, parents someone with ADHD, or simply knows someone with ADHD. Actually, this book is just a must-read for anyone. RSD is a very real but very misunderstood aspect of ADHD and other neurotypical disorders, and learning how to manage it (or support those who struggle with it) can be life-changing or even life-saving.
A must-read for anyone struggling with RSD - but even more so, for anyone who wants to support someone living with RSD. Partridge offers a masterclass on how to approach a topic with care and sensitivity, without catering to the skeptics or those who may overly embrace a title or symptom. Full of anecdotes to help people see themselves or their loved ones and pragmatic advice, this is a must read.
Having read this author's previous books and followed him on social media I'm now even more a great fan. This book resonates incredibly well and he explains things in a very relatable way. Highly recommend.
As someone who was late diagnosed with ADHD at age 38, Rejection Sensitivity Disorder (RSD) has been the hardest aspect of it to deal with and it still is. I discovered Alex's podcast before my diagnosis and it is partially the reason I fought for an assessment. After reading and personally responding well to his first book, "Now it All Makes Sense", I knew "Why Does Everybody Hate me?" was going to be a must read. Alex's voice is clear and sincere throughout each of the chapters, which are kept informative and concise (perfect for ADHD minds) to help the reader retain the information. Using personal experiences and stories from others who also experience RSD, Alex has once again given us a book that is indispensable reading for people who are living with ADHD...