How To Stay Married (SO FAR) ADHD and Our OWN Addictions!! Food, Alcohol & DrugsHow To Stay Married (SO FAR) ADHD and Our OWN Addictions!! Food, Alcohol & Drugs
How To Stay Married (So Far)
Nadia Sawalha and Mark Adderley talk openly about ADHD, bipolar, food addiction and alcohol, linking their diagnoses to years of chaotic behaviour. The conversation centres on how validation, early support and practical recovery tools have shaped their marriage and their choices around substances.
44:58•25 Aug 2026
ADHD, Bipolar and Addiction: Nadia and Mark Get Brutally Honest
Episode Overview
- ADHD and bipolar can significantly increase the risk and intensity of addictive behaviours.
- Diagnosis offers validation and understanding, and does not have to mean automatic medication.
- Food is often the first addiction, with overeating used for dopamine hits, emotional soothing and self-harm.
- AA tools like "first thought, second thought" help break the urge to reach for alcohol or other substances.
- Early ADHD screening and support may prevent more severe and earlier-onset substance use problems.
“"Diagnosis is different to medication. It’s validation that can help you, not excuse everything, but just to give yourself a little break."”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This candid chat between Nadia Sawalha and Mark Adderley pulls apart the messy overlap between ADHD, bipolar, addiction and long-term marriage. You’ll hear them talk frankly about their chaotic drinking years – "we drank, we drank, we drank" – and how Mark’s rehab and 22 years of sobriety reshaped both of their lives.
Nadia describes pregnancy as a kind of "enforced rehab", where stopping smoking and drinking for the baby made her realise how little she’d done to protect herself. A big thread running through the conversation is ADHD and its link with addiction. Mark shares how his diagnosis of bipolar 2 and ADHD came only after a terrifying period of suicidal thoughts and burnout.
Nadia reads through a list of ways substance use connects to ADHD and is stunned at how many apply to Mark, especially dopamine-seeking through alcohol, nicotine, drugs and food. Food addiction and overeating get just as much airtime as alcohol. They talk about compulsive eating as self-harm, the shame many feel around food, and how for lots of people "the food is nearly always the first addiction".
Overeaters Anonymous, AA, and that famous "first thought, second thought" mantra all come up as practical tools that still shape Nadia’s choices today. They also stress why early ADHD diagnosis matters: not just for medication, but for validation, understanding your brain and cutting off a harsher addiction path before it really takes hold. As Nadia puts it, "Diagnosis is different to medication...
it’s validation that can help you." If you’re living with ADHD, supporting a partner in recovery, or wondering how compulsive behaviours show up in everyday life, this episode offers raw honesty, humour and a very real look at trying to stay married – and sober – so far. What parts of your own story might you recognise in theirs?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.