The Restless Brain - ADHD, Addiction and the Search for Quiet
ADHD and addiction have a more complicated relationship than many realise. For some, the restless energy and distractibility that come with ADHD can be a constant challenge. For others, it is the unrecognised drive to find focus or quiet that leads them toward risky shortcuts. Understanding this link could change how we approach both diagnosis and recovery.
If you have spent any time in ADHD circles, you have probably heard the “distracted by a squirrel” joke. It resonates because, in many ways, it is accurate. Squirrels are quick, curious, and constantly in motion, a bit like the ADHD mind.
The trouble comes when the squirrel party gets out of hand. This is not just the occasional distraction. It is the full-on mental jamboree that pulls attention in a loads of different directions at once, leaving someone drained, simply from the act of thinking.
The Overlap We Do Not Talk About Enough
As well as this, research shows a strong link between ADHD and addiction. A 2023 review found that about one in four adults seeking help for addiction also have ADHD. Rates vary depending on the substance, from around 8% in alcohol addiction to as high as 62% in certain drug-using groups (Wilens et al., 2023).
Yet ADHD often goes unnoticed in adults. Only about 2.5-5% meet the official diagnostic criteria, but research suggests that up to 60% of those diagnosed in childhood still live with symptoms that significantly affect their daily lives. That is a lot of missed squirrels - and it matters. Undiagnosed ADHD can quietly fuel the urge to self-medicate, which can have serious consequences.
What Is the Brain Really After?
In ADHD, the brain’s attention and motivation systems run differently. Dopamine, the chemical that signals interest, reward, and satisfaction, can be harder to access in a steady and sustainable way. Everyday life can sometimes feel flat or unstimulating for someone with ADHD. Tasks that others might find engaging can feel like wading through treacle when the brain’s reward system is not firing. This is not laziness, but a difference in how interest and motivation are triggered. The brain, hungry for stimulation or relief from restlessness, will naturally look for ways to light a spark. That might mean seeking excitement, novelty or intensity, or finding something that quietens the noise long enough to think.
Addiction can appear to offer a quick route. Substances and certain behaviours trigger a sharp, short-lived rise in reward chemicals, bringing momentary relief from mental noise. The problem is that this shortcut carries costs to health, relationships, and stability.
The Parts of the Brain in Play
Two key areas are particularly relevant:
● The Prefrontal Cortex helps with planning, decision-making, and self-control. In ADHD, this area can be less active or less well-connected.
● The Amygdala is the brain’s emotional alarm system and can trigger intense reactions to stress or frustration.
When these areas do not work in sync, the result can be the familiar mix of distractibility, impulsivity, and the sometimes overlooked ability to hyperfocus for anything from minutes to weeks.
What Can Help
The Medication Paradox
It can seem counterintuitive that ADHD is often treated with stimulant medication. On the surface, giving a restless mind a stimulant sounds like adding fuel to the fire. In reality, these medications help the brain regulate. By boosting dopamine and norepinephrine in targeted areas, communication is improved between the ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ parts of the brain. This can slow impulsivity, extend focus and make it easier to choose long-term, healthy rewards over immediate but harmful ones.
Medication is only one way to create a clearing. Regulation can also be learned through practice and experience, and this is where creative and sensory-based approaches can be powerful.
ADHD Coaching
In the context of ADHD and addiction, coaching is not simply about organising tasks. It is about creating personalised strategies that reduce the pull toward risky shortcuts. Coaches can help clients identify triggers that lead to impulsive or harmful choices, design daily structures that make healthier behaviours easier, and build systems to manage overwhelm before it leads to destructive coping.
Effective ADHD coaching recognises the role of the brain’s reward system in both focus and addiction. It supports clients in finding safe, sustainable sources of stimulation through movement, creativity, social connection and purposeful work, reducing the temptation for short-lived dopamine spikes from substances or addictive behaviours.
Guided Imagery - Finding Your Clearing
One approach I use works, not by emptying the mind, but by giving it a safe place to rest:
1. Close your eyes and picture a woodland. Squirrels may dart about, branches sway.
2. Notice a path leading to a quiet clearing. Walk there in your mind, feeling the ground steady beneath you.
3. The squirrels remain at the edges, but you do not have to chase them.
4. Your breathing slows. The sunlight is warm. You have space to think and space to choose.
This can obviously be adapted and padded out, but the core is there. Guided imagery like this, does not directly change brain chemistry, but it can help rewire the stress response. Over time, it reminds the brain that calm is possible without a risky shortcut, creating a healthier route to regulation.
Creative Tools
Externalising thoughts helps to stop them looping endlessly. Clients might map their week with coloured sticky notes, sketch an emotional landscape, or draw their priorities as a garden to look after or notice. This is not about artistic skill, it is about giving shape to the swirl. By helping clients find a space to express themselves and have another ‘world’ to explore, can help prevent experiencing isolation and non-stop brain chatter, which may lead to harmful fulfilment.
Daily Brain Care through Movement
As an ecotherapist, I've walked in enough woods with enough clients, to know that movement, particularly outdoors, can naturally boost dopamine and serotonin. Even a 15 minute walk can reset attention more effectively than forcing focus through mental noise. Ecotherapy can be an effective ticket to freedom, health and wellbeing, by adding space, purpose, belonging and distraction.
In addition, Neuroscience educator TJ Power also speaks about “feeding the brain’s happiness chemicals”; dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins, through small, consistent habits such as connecting with others, celebrating achievements, and moving daily (Power, 2023). These small acts of self-care can make the difference between thriving and burning out.
Wiring and Diving In
Living with ADHD does not mean a broken brain. It means a brain wired for curiosity, novelty, and deep focus. Addiction can take hold when the search for quiet follows a risky path.
The goal is to create clearings; chemical, creative and compassionate. The squirrels will always be part of the forest. The work is to make enough space for both human and squirrels to rest.
References
Wilens, T.E., et al. (2023) ADHD and Substance Use Disorders in Adults: An Overlooked Comorbidity. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(2), 1275.
Power, T.J. (2023) The 16 Life Hacks a Neuroscientist Used to Improve His Mental Health. The Times.
