They call it: ~~Too sensitive~~ We call it

Big Heart

Also known as caring and helping.

The short version Your feelings run big, and you point a lot of them at people who need someone on their side.

Sounds like you?

You notice the kid eating lunch alone and go sit down.
You cry at a sad ad, then at the dog in the ad.
You lend your last pencil and then need one.

Why it’s a power

Many people with ADHD say they feel things at full volume, and point a big share of that feeling at other people. You spot who is left out. You show up. You can’t walk past someone having a bad day.

People say this in more than one country. In a survey of 206 Dutch adults with ADHD, 44 named empathy as one of the good parts.^{Source 1} In group interviews across five countries, with people with ADHD, their families and professionals, empathy and willingness to help came up again and again.^{Source 2}

Studies that compare groups have not found extra empathy in ADHD. In one, adults with and without ADHD rated their empathy the same.^{Source 3} In another, adults with many ADHD traits rated theirs a little lower, still in the usual range.^{Source 4} So if you have this one, it’s yours. It doesn’t come free with the label.

Lived experience

Many adults with ADHD name empathy as a strength, but group studies find no extra empathy in ADHD, and one found slightly less.

Where it shines

Being the friend who shows up
Looking after animals and little kids
Rallying a team when someone’s hurt

The flip side

Big feeling for other people can leave nothing in the tank for you, and you may carry problems that were never yours to fix. Care needs a limit.

Power-up: try this today

Message one person you have been meaning to check on and ask how they actually are.

Say it to a kid

Your heart is a big bucket. You feel things for other people and you want to help. Remember to keep a little in the bucket for you.

Someone who has this one

Jessica McCabe

Creator of the YouTube channel How to ADHD

I don’t think I really understood my ADHD or how to work with my brain, not against it until I started my channel.

Said in: McCabe, 2024

Jessica McCabe was diagnosed at 12 and says she didn’t understand her ADHD until 32. She built How to ADHD to keep track of what worked for her, and shared it.

Truth Teller Big Heart

Where this comes from

Schippers, L. M., Horstman, L. I., van de Velde, H., Rodrigues Pereira, R., Zinkstok, J., Mostert, J. C., Greven, C. U., & Hoogman, M. (2022). A qualitative and quantitative study of self-reported positive characteristics of individuals with ADHD. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 922788. Read it
Mahdi, S., Viljoen, M., Massuti, R., Selb, M., Almodayfer, O., Karande, S., de Vries, P. J., Rohde, L., & Bölte, S. (2017). An international qualitative study of ability and disability in ADHD using the WHO-ICF framework. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 1219-1231. Read it
Hargitai, L. D., Laan, E. L. M., Schippers, L. M., Livingston, L. A., Fairchild, G., Shah, P., & Hoogman, M. (2025). The role of psychological strengths in positive life outcomes in adults with ADHD. Psychological Medicine, 55, e278. Read it
Groen, Y., den Heijer, A. E., Fuermaier, A. B. M., Althaus, M., & Tucha, O. (2018). Reduced emotional empathy in adults with subclinical ADHD: evidence from the empathy and systemizing quotient. ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 10(2), 141-150. Read it

No. 26: Swiss Army Mind

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