ADHD and Its Connection to Addiction with Todd Love

Healing Conversations for Men Who Have Sex with Men

Todd Love is a therapist and counselor, who was previously a DUI Defense Attorney and in the IT sector. He specializes in ADHD, addiction recovery, and more. As someone who has ADHD himself, Todd understands that it can be a particularly lethal combo to have ADHD and an addiction. Find out more about some of the symptoms of ADHD and how it ties into addiction in this week’s episode.

TAKEAWAYS:

[1:35] How did Todd get his start as a counselor?

[4:15] A little bit of insight into ADHD and how it’s diagnosed.

[7:45] What is the relationship between ADHD and addiction?

[10:15] Todd shares some stats about children with ADHD and its connection to addiction later in adult life.

[11:35] Cannabis users combined with ADHD struggle with motivation and keeping their life on track.

[16:00] Are people self-medicating to try to bring their lives back into focus?

[19:40] Is Adderall a good ‘study’ drug? The research says no.

[20:35] How can someone determine whether they have ADHD?

[22:50] Are there ADHD medications out there that are helpful?

[23:20] Enough sleep is key to helping build regularity in your routines, and to your ADHD.

[26:30] What are the effects of some of these drugs on children?

RESOURCES:

Doctoddlove.com

Nyulangone.org/files/psych_adhd_checklist_0.pdf

QUOTES:

• “What is addiction? Impulsivity, inability to delay gratification, novelty-seeking, and you can overlay that completely with ADHD.”
• “The research has shown that 15-25% of adults and 50-60% with substance use disorder have ADHD. I think that’s an outdated statistic. I’m hearing 50% of adults in treatment programs are there with undiagnosed ADHD.”
• “ADHD stimulant medications are the safest medicine in psychiatry, and in some ways, overall.”
• “ADHD is particularly responsive to interruptions in sleep.”