Sasha Hamdani
Board-certified psychiatrist and ADHD clinical specialist who provides mental-health education online; author of Self-Care for People with ADHD and developer of the FocusGenie ADHD-management app.
Boys Told to “Man Up” Learn to Express Distress as Anger
Chris Williamson argues that men’s vulnerability is often accepted only when status, success or physical strength has already established them as masculine; men who appear isolated or unstable are more likely to be ridiculed than supported. Psychiatrist Dr Sasha Hamdani says boys taught to suppress sadness and sensitivity can come to rely on anger as one of the few permitted expressions of distress. Both distinguish genuine composure from emotional concealment, and argue that sensitivity can become either emotional intelligence or self-directed shame depending on how it is handled.
Rejection Sensitivity Turns Ambiguity Into a Judgment About Self-Worth
Psychiatrist and ADHD specialist Dr Sasha Hamdani argues that emotional sensitivity is not simply a matter of feeling more than other people, but of how quickly a perceived threat becomes an overwhelming state. In her account, rejection sensitivity and emotional dysregulation can turn ambiguous cues—a delayed text, altered tone or criticism—into physical alarm and self-doubt before deliberate reasoning has time to intervene. The aim, she says, is not to suppress sensitivity but to build the capacity to interpret, regulate and use it without letting it dictate every response.