The RSD Spiral

THREAT ASSESSMENT

"That slight — real or imagined — just ended everything." Dodson's Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria describes an intense, near-instantaneous emotional response to perceived criticism or failure. It's not a mood disorder; it's a rejection-threat response that fires faster than rational thought and feels completely proportionate from the inside.

KNOWN SIGNATURES

• ▸A neutral email from a colleague reads as an indictment and you've already drafted the resignation.
• ▸Someone's tone shifts and you've reconstructed their entire opinion of you from it.
• ▸You pre-emptively withdraw from things you want so you can't be rejected first.

TARGET LIST — ACTIVE INSTANCES

• ▸“They think I'm making excuses”
• ▸“That one criticism proves I'm a failure”
• ▸“If I try and fail, that's worse than not trying”

FIELD INTELLIGENCE

PERSONNEL

COUNTERMEASURES

• The signal is disproportionate to the data. RSD fires at full intensity on a raised eyebrow. Wait twelve minutes before acting on it.
• This is a threat response, not a verdict. The threat system doesn't have evidence standards.
• I can feel like it's over and still not blow up the thing that isn't actually over.