Adult ADHD and coping with addictions

Research has shown that adults with ADHD are more prone to addictions than others. That includes alcohol abuse and other substances. In this podcast, we will discuss why those with ADHD are more prone to these behaviors and we will also discuss how to mitigate our reliance on alcohol and other addictive substances.

We have back Lara Honos-Webb, author of Brain Hacks and Six Super Skills for Executive Functioning: Tools to Help Teens Improve Focus, Stay Organized, and Reach Their Goals as well as many other books. Dr. Lara Has been on Overcoming Distractions many times and it's a wealth of knowledge in the area of ADHD.

Dr. Lara Talks about how addictions such as those with alcohol and other substances not only affect those with ADHD to a greater percentage but how they have increased during the past two years of the pandemic. Lara talks about how prevalent addiction is in the ADHD community as well as why we've seen the increases recently.

She also answers the question about why those of us with ADHD have more challenges with addictive behaviors. Hint, it's our impulsivity. She also discusses that those of us with ADHD are typically addicted to other types of uses such as digital addictions, our phones as well as social media.

Laura discusses how addictions can affect the executive functions of anyone but in particular adults with ADHD. She discusses how our executive functions decrease but overall if we protect our executive functions as a regular habit in our lives, we can help stave off addictions.

She says we must do our best to build self-confidence and self-efficacy as we try to limit our addictive behaviors. And by doing so focus on self-love versus shame to recover.

Lara says that there are all different types of support groups including those that work in moderation as well as those that demand abstinence.

And she describes what she calls urge surfing which is your ability to catch yourself and understand how you may be able to delay your actions. Yes those of us with ADHD are already good at delay but there is a case for making it be used in our favor when it comes to addictions.

Find Dr. Lara Honos-Webb at:

www.addisagift.com