How Millie Mackintosh's ADHD diagnosis reframed her drinking habits
Millie Mackintosh has spoken about how her ADHD may have impacted her drinking habits.
The author of Bad Drunk, a book exploring her relationship with alcohol and her decision to go alcohol-free, has been open about how drinking negatively impacted her marriage, mental health and personality.
Now, she's told Women's Health that her recent ADHD diagnosis gave her a new perspective on her relationship with booze.
'I look back over that time and also the way that I used alcohol, and just feel a lot more compassion for myself, because you're much more likely to use abuse and addictive substance if you're ADHD because of the way the brain is seeking the dopamine hit.'
Research published in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews show that around 43% of people with ADHD develop an alcohol use disorder (compared to around 5% of the general population, according to a study from Addiction). Researchers put this down to the fact that people with ADHD have lower levels of dopamine in the forebrain, meaning they are more vulnerable to seeking out quick dopamine hits in the form of alcohol, drugs and other activities.
Mackintosh's ADHD diagnosis came last year when she was already a mother of two. But there were signs much earlier, she says:
'I was diagnosed with dyspraxia when I was younger, which I have since learned is linked with ADHD. [My school] also thought I had something wrong with my eyes, because I always struggled to write down from the blackboard, so I had to do all of these exercises for my eyesight.
'School was really hard, and I can now see it was my ADHD.'
Motherhood also shone a new light on the different way she coped. 'I had noticed from quite early on that Hugo [Taylor, her husband and former Made In Chelsea colleague] could cope with things better than me,' she says. 'I would get overstimulated easily by things like mess and noise – even my baby crying would make me cry myself and end up shaking. Going to a soft play center with the kids would put me into a weird kind of disassociation.'
But it wasn't until a therapist told her they thought she had ADHD that she got tested and diagnosed. 'It was very validating to get the results,' she says.
Mackintosh has made the decision to use medication as and when she needs it, and prefers to use lifestyle methods such as nutrition and exercise to support her neurodiversity in day-to-day life. But mostly, it's given her the clarity to understand her emotions and step back before reacting.
'Now, when I walk into a room and my kids have caused chaos, I know to take a deep breath,' she says.
'I also struggle to relax with ADHD, especially without alcohol, so doing something that takes me out of my busy mind helps. Her favourite methods are breathwork, ice baths, sound baths and 'ecstatic dance' classes.
Read the full feature here.
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