ADHD and Alcohol: What’s Really Going On?
Sober Awkward
Victoria Vanstone
4.8 • 533 Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2026
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week gets a little bit personal.
We’re talking ADHD, alcohol, and that slightly unsettling moment when you realise… maybe it wasn’t just the drinking.
After years of brushing it off, and being gently diagnosed by listeners in her DMs, Vic is thinking about getting assessed again. becuase last time she was tested for ADHD, it wasn’t the result she expected. But now, hormones are doing their thing and perimenopause is turning the volume up on everything, and she’s been feeling wired, overwhelmed, and honestly… a bit confused.
So she’s brought in someone who actually knows what they’re talking about.
Faye Laurence is an alcohol coach who specialises in ADHD, and this conversation really hits home.
They get into the big questions… do people with ADHD use alcohol to self-medicate? What actually comes first, the ADHD or the drinking? And why do some traditional methods for addiction not always work for those with ADHD?
They also go a bit deeper… can getting a diagnosis help you understand yourself better, and maybe even have a bit more empathy for your past and the role alcohol played in it?
Vic shares openly, as always, because if she’s feeling it, chances are someone else out there is too. It might make people cringe at times, putting it all out there like this, but those are the moments that get people thinking, connecting, and hopefully reaching out for help… just like she is.
She’ll keep you updated on how this all unfolds. She’s nervous, yes… and if she’s honest, a bit pissed off too. She really thought the sobriety piece was it, that she’d done the work and could just get on with life. But clearly, there’s more bubbling up.
And maybe that’s the point.
Find out more about Faye and her ADHD/Alcohol Courses and Coaching here - Links: Website: www.fayelawrence.com.au |
Insta:https://www.instagram.com/_fayelawrence_ | FB: https://www.facebook.com/FayeLawrenceCoaching
Kicking off 31 March - Breaking the Loop - An 8 week small group coaching program designed for ADHDers who want to change their relationship with alcohol www.fayelawrence.com.au/loop
💛 Resources & Links
📘 Victoria’s memoir – A Thousand Wasted Sundays
A brutally honest and hilarious look at motherhood, anxiety, and ditching the booze.
🎧 Listen to more Sober Awkward episodes
🫖 Join The Cuppa Community
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Oh, the kettle's boiled. Excellent timing. I'll just make myself a quick cupper, take a deep breath and pretend I know exactly what I'm doing. Right, let's get started. |
| 0:15.5 | Have you ever woken up on a Sunday morning with massive anxiety and said to yourself, I'm never drinking again, |
| 0:22.6 | only to find yourself waving 50 bucks at a barman by happy hour. Do you ever wonder why everyone else |
| 0:28.1 | can stop at one while you end up at a dodgy after party holding hands with a weird bloke called |
| 0:32.9 | Disco Dave? If so, it might be time to take a closer look at your reliable social crutch alcohol. |
| 0:40.0 | On this podcast, I investigate my own deeply dysfunctional dealings with booze and find out what |
| 0:45.4 | it's really like navigating this alcohol-drenched world, one fizzy water at a time. |
| 0:50.6 | I'm going to open up a shame shed of humiliating drinking stories to help you understand why |
| 0:55.4 | waking up with one eyebrow missing and a kebab sticking out of your top pocket might actually |
| 0:59.9 | be negatively impacting your health. So what happens when you put down those cheeky pints and |
| 1:05.5 | finally let go of those rewarding mummy wines? I guess we're just going to have to wait and see. |
| 1:11.7 | I'm Victoria Vanstone and this is sober awkward. I've got these papers out of the way. Always bloody |
| 1:19.9 | mess in here. Anyway, today we're talking about alcohol and ADHD, a topic that's actually |
| 1:27.2 | hurling itself at me recently. Everything I read and see on my |
| 1:31.9 | algorithm is diagnosing me. I've been flicking through a few reels, which is probably the |
| 1:37.8 | worst thing you can do if you've got ADHD quite honestly. There's always these lists, |
| 1:42.3 | like 10 things you might do as a woman with ADHD. |
| 1:46.4 | I nod along like a nodding dog in the back of a cortina. |
| 1:50.6 | They say stuff like, |
| 1:52.0 | do you hate eating dessert with a tablespoon? |
| 1:55.3 | Tick. |
| 1:56.5 | Have you got piles of clothes everywhere that you just can't put away? |
... |
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