Not everyone with ADHD experiences rage. But the people that do, usually experience it very intensely.

The dictionary definition of rage as:
‘to feel or express violent uncontrollable anger”

ADHD and RAGE
Anger is considered a normal and healthy emotion. However, rage can be destructive to the person experiencing it and to those around him / her.

So why is it people with ADHD experience rage so intensely?

The impulsivity, low levels of frustration and mood swings, are all characteristics of ADHD, which play a part in experience rage. However, ADHD expert Dr. Brown says that the intense rage in ADHDers, is a result of a poor working memory.

Working memory is one of our executive functions. When the working memory is operating well, it temporarily stores numerous pieces of information (from the environment and your long-term memory, etc.), where it processes them to help you navigate the situation you are in. However, when you have ADHD, your working memory is affected, and the ability to process multi pieces of information is reduced.

When you feel rage, your whole brain is flooded with that emotion and all other facts and feelings are pushed aside. The only thing you feel is rage. You forget that the person that you are shouting out at, is someone that you love, that the rage you are feeling doesn’t match the environmental trigger, or any other practical facts that a non-ADHDer would draw upon to balance the emotion of rage.

>However, rage can be managed and even stopped completely.

Here are 5 suggestions to help you reduce your rage:

1) Treat your ADHD with all the usual Untapped Brilliance strategies.
2) Share you rage triggers with another person: a friend, ADHD Coach or therapist. They can help you reframe your trigger situations. Then, when they happen, you can process them differently.
3) Start to write. It will help you process your thoughts and feelings, and you will also see patterns in your rage.
4) Join Luminosity. The training helps improve your working memory.
5) Don’t feel shame about have rage. It’s just a behavior that can be changed.