ADHD in Addiction Recovery and How it Affects People

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and addiction are common comorbidities. This means that people with ADHD are more likely to turn to substances to cope, and people in recovery often discover that they have ADHD once sober. However, ADHD is frequently underdiagnosed, especially in women. This can make having ADHD in addiction recovery especially challenging.

I was misdiagnosed for 8 years of my recovery. Professionals said my problems included depression, anxiety, and — believe it or not — not working hard enough on my recovery! It was only after I decided to take control of my recovery that I started to find answers to a life-long condition impacting my quality of life.

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What is ADHD?

According to the American Psychiatric Association, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common mental health disorders affecting people from children into adulthood.

As the name suggests, ADHD affects your ability to focus, your capacity to stay still, your attention span, and your impulsive behaviors.

But it’s important to remember that symptoms vary from person to person. In fact, there are three different types of ADHD, which I’ll outline below.

It is estimated that 8.4 percent of children and 2.5 percent of adults have ADHD. However, those figures are almost certainly inaccurate. People with ADHD are often misdiagnosed, especially among women and people with substance use disorders.

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What Are the Different Types of ADHD?

There are three different types of ADHD. To be clinically diagnosed, children must meet six of the symptoms and adults must meet five or more.

Type 1: Inattentive ADHD

Symptoms include:

• Struggling to pay close attention to details or making careless mistakes

• Difficulty staying focused on tasks or activities

• Inability to listen during conversations

• Starting tasks and quickly losing focus

• Disorganization and struggling to organize tasks and environments

• Avoiding or disliking tasks requiring sustained attention

• Often losing possessions

• Forgetting to complete daily tasks like chores or errands

  
  

Type 2: Hyperactive/Impulsive ADHD

Symptoms include:

• Fidgeting

• Difficulty staying seated

• Running or climbing when inappropriate

• Always being ‘on the go’

• Children have difficulty playing quietly

• Talkativeness

• Interrupting conversations or blurting out answers

• Difficulty waiting in line

• Intruding on others

  
  

Type 3: Combined ADHD

This is a combination of both inattentive and hyperactive types and symptoms.

Typically, we associate the thought of loud children running around when we think of ADHD. However, ADHD symptoms in adults is something we often overlook.

In adults, ADHD symptoms present differently compared to children. It mostly shows up when experiencing difficulties on the job and in relationships. Adults with ADHD might be disorganized at work, miss deadlines, forget tasks, or fail to return missed calls and emails. Relationally, an adult with ADHD may struggle to regulate their emotions, be prone to emotional outbursts, fail to pay attention to what their partner says, or appear checked out. They can also struggle to pay bills on time, forget about social commitments, or avoid texting/calling someone back.