Please join UCLA's Friends of the Semel Institute for a special virtual Open Mind program featuring Dr. Sasha Hamdani, board-certified psychiatrist, ADHD clinical expert, author, entrepreneur, and mental health advocate.

Dr. Hamdani is the author of Too Sensitive: Rejection, Resilience, and the Science of Feeling Deeply, which examines the neuroscience of emotional sensitivity and challenges the longstanding tendency to mistake emotional depth for a failure of character.

Drawing on psychiatry, neuroscience, clinical practice, and lived experience, Dr. Hamdani explores the forces that shape our emotional lives—from social threat and hormonal shifts to relationships, identity, and culture.

At its heart, Too Sensitive makes a broader case for emotional literacy. We live in an era of extraordinary connection, but also constant exposure to judgment, comparison, rejection, and conflict. The book asks us to reconsider experiences historically dismissed as weakness, overreaction, or being “too much,” examining them instead through the lenses of neuroscience, physiology, and context.

How we understand emotion, tolerate discomfort, and stay connected through disagreement shapes how we love, work, parent, lead, and participate in our communities. At a moment when these capacities feel increasingly essential, Too Sensitive gives readers the understanding and tools to have greater agency over their emotional lives.

You can follow Dr. Hamdani on social media: Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube (@thepsychdoctormd), where she provides evidence-backed information and works to dispel stigma around all facets of wellness. In 2022, she worked closely with the White House and Surgeon General’s team to speak out about mental health awareness and was recognized by Harvard as a public health leader.

We invite you to join us for this engaging conversation about emotional sensitivity, resilience, and the science of feeling deeply.

Bio: Dr. Sasha Hamdani is a board-certified psychiatrist and ADHD clinical expert. She is an author, entrepreneur, and mental health advocate. She also has a robust social media following on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube (@thepsychdoctormd) where she provides evidence-backed information and dispels stigma around all facets of wellness.  In 2022, Dr. Hamdani worked closely with the White House and Surgeon General’s team to speak out about mental health awareness and was recognized by Harvard as a public health leader. Dr. Hamdani is the author of New York Times bestseller Too Sensitive: Rejection, Resilience, and the Science of Feeling Deeply.

Summary: Too Sensitive: Rejection, Resilience, and the Science of Feeling Deeply examines the neuroscience of emotional sensitivity and challenges the longstanding tendency to mistake emotional depth for a failure of character. Drawing on psychiatry, neuroscience, clinical practice, and lived experience, Dr. Sasha Hamdani explores the forces that shape our emotional lives, from social threat and hormonal shifts to relationships, identity, and culture.

At its heart, Too Sensitive makes a broader case for emotional literacy. We live in an era of extraordinary connection, but also constant exposure to judgment, comparison, rejection, and conflict. The book asks us to reconsider experiences historically dismissed as weakness, overreaction, or being “too much,” examining them instead through the lenses of neuroscience, physiology, and context.

How we understand emotion, tolerate discomfort, and stay connected through disagreement shapes how we love, work, parent, lead, and participate in our communities. At a moment when these capacities feel increasingly essential, Too Sensitive gives readers the understanding and tools to have greater agency over their emotional lives.