UT....if he feels like he is being criticized too much in class (his instructor tries to be positive, but it's her job to make sure he is doing it as close to perfectly as possible) he gets really defensive and grouchy. For a while, I thought he hated going to class, so I asked him if he wanted to quit. He was horrified at the idea, and then freaked out because he was afraid I was going to make him quit.
This is SO much like something DD would do. I wish I knew what it was about! I would say perfectionism, except she isn't really that much of a perfectionist. It's more a hypersensitivity issue. She tends to blow criticism way out of proportion and to be very reactive. She's also a black and white thinker, although this is slowly improving. If someone gently criticizes her, then they think everything about her is bad. If we are mad at her, we don't love her. Etc.
ETA: I will say also that she is just an emotional person all around and tends to say things she doesn't mean. After she feels better, she is fine and feels a bit sheepish and bewildered that other people are still affected by all the negativity she has discharged. She also will easily say that she knows we love her, etc, once she's calmed down. But in the moment, it's like she sees red and her emotional temperature just goes way up. Unfortunately, there is a lot of collateral damage from this in the family--it really upsets her little brother when she gets like this.
