I have battled an alcohol addiction for years and was looking at it solely as an alcohol disorder. Earlier this year I was diagnosed with a mood disorder and put on Lamictal which instantly dropped my drinking from 2-3 nights a week to 2-3 nights a month.
Several months later I stumbled across the condition primarily inattentive add. I have a thread in the research section but it would do no harm to mention it again. I thought I knew what add was ie hyperactive cant sit still etc- basically the total opposite of me so I wasnt interested in reading about it. Primarily inattentive is nothing like that.
If you were the daydreamy kid in school who was always forgetting their homework, if you find yourself zoning out a lot when people are talking and if you experience social anxiety you should read about it.I couldnt believe when I was diagnosed with it too. Apparently people who have it are very prone to mood disorders and very very prone to alcohol addiction.Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Forums
Anyway this shocked me and I was curious to see how many other addicts were nursing these health problems and not realising it. The general consensus on the web is loads of us. I have read figures of 40% 50% and even 67%
Is this why some people cant stop drinking do you think?
I had always found myself drawn to talk of mood disorders and social anxiety and now I know why but the whole Add thing was a big shock.
If you keep relapsing it might be worth moving away from the stopping drinking angle and looking at all the anxiety disorders/mood disorders/add/adhd disorders. These seem to be the most common ones and sometimes they are not what you think they are.
I had a very variable stop/start type of drinking ie binge drinking which I didnt think was that important or relevant but it actually can be a sign of hypomania.Unstable alcohol consumption linked to hypomania vulnerability and Hypomania and Alcohol Use | Addiction Treatment
Also hypomania is not always a good thing. It can lead someone to be irritable,agitated and pace up and down etc. I thought that was called alcoholism but its worth educating yourself about dysphoric hypomania.Bipolar Spectrum Disorder
Comment