Self-Medicating ADHD

The other day on Twitter, someone asked me a very interesting question: is there a relationship between Attention Deficit Disorder and overeating?

Actually, yes there is. In fact, almost any behavior that is taken to an extreme can be a form of what is called self-medicating. It’s an attempt to soothe anxiety, fight off boredom, or burn off excess energy, and it can take many forms.

Overeating or emotional eating is one way a person with ADHD might soothe themselves. This is especially true for children, who have fewer outlets than adults, but lots of women can relate, too.

Drinking too much - whether it’s alcohol, coffee, or Diet Coke - is another way to self-medicate. Others include using drugs (legal, illegal, over the counter - even cough drops all count), gambling, shopping (to extreme) - even sexual behavior.

The fact that it is happening is a sign that action needs to be taken. Clearly the person is uncomfortable on some level, whether it’s anxiety, boredom, or too much energy.

The first step is to figure out what’s triggering the behavior, and then you can start to address it. Just because it’s called self-medicating doesn’t mean that a prescription is needed, although there’s nothing wrong with that if it’s warranted. If it’s a case of too much energy or just a low boredom threshold, you can probably come up with some healthy and easy to do solutions.

Whatever you do, don’t ignore such behavior. And once again, we’re talking about extreme behavior. Everybody gets bored or hyper once in a while, but if you’re noticing new behaviors in an attempt to deal with it, there’s a problem. Take care of it while it’s still small, before it escalates into something worse.

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