The Link Between A.D.D and Addiction: Getting the Help You Deserve

by Wendy Richardson

As many as 50% of people with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) use drugs, alcohol, and other addictive behaviors to self-medicate their ADD symptoms. Heres what you need to know to get help or help others in this situation.



• self tests
• checklists of symptoms
• practical solutions

Genres: Adhd

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[D Steven Ledingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a great book. The first I'd ever seen about the link between ADD and addiction. I have great respect for what Wendy has to say in this book. Highly recommended.

[Elizabeth Good · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this brand-new looking book at a library book sale; partway through I noticed that it was from 1997. Still, much of the science seems relevant (in fact I viewed her website after reading & it seemed no different from the book). I do wonder if there are any advances in medications or natural treatments that really work without such side effects, however.

That being said, it seems a very shame-reducing, practical, warm, yet no-nonsense approach to the way A.D.D. (or, as it's now more often called, ADHD) can cause addictions and ruin lives. It emphasizes the vital need to address both issues for those that have them. And to realize the issue is not moral, nor laziness, stupidity, etcetera...it's biological!

I picked this book up mostly with a relative of mine in mind. He admits he has ADD but is trying to get through life sans treatment due to his sensitivity to medications. Meanwhile I see his food addiction roaring at times, and life being difficult in ways I wish it were not for him. The author addresses food addiction fully, which I appreciate, because most sources addressing addiction don't look at food that way! It's just a matter of willpower or the right diet, putting your mind to it, etcetera, when it comes to food, in most writers or people's minds--even health writers and researchers. She clearly explains the science of how ADD brains take up glucose more slowly and how this can lead to food addictions.

I also had some interest for myself, as having chronic Lyme and mold illness affects the brain, bringing some of the ADD tendencies and addiction tendencies too.

Overall, a very compassionate and simple to read book~~though I know many truly ADD folks who need it won't be able to focus enough to read it. Hopefully it can in the least help loved ones understand and somehow help the sufferers.