Denise Welch has been left questioning whether some of the “huge mistakes” she has made throughout her life boil down to a health condition affected millions of people.
The 66-year-old was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) after fellow Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha encouraged her to get tested. According to NHS England around three percent of adults are thought to have ADHD.
Those with ADHD typically find it challenging to follow instructions, finish tasks, manage stress, or maintain organisation, which can lead to relationship and social difficulties as well as anxiety.
Throughout her life Denise has been open about her struggles with alcohol and drugs. She has now been left wondering if this was an attempt to self-medicate her ADHD, reports Best magazine.
Speaking on the ADHD Chatter podcast, she said: “I’ve made some huge mistakes in my life because of drinks and drugs, but I do wonder if my ADHD played a part in my drink and drug use. It was me self-medicating.”
Additionally, Denise has faced depression for many years, first encountering the mental health condition after the birth of her son Matty Healy, who is the frontman for the band The 1975. After marrying her third husband Lincoln Townley in 2013, she decided to stop drinking—an endeavour in which she nearly stumbled following her initial experience with ADHD medication, reports Surrey Live.
While initially not feeling anything after taking the medication, Denise explained: “An hour later I wanted a drink and a cigarette for the first time in 11 years and it was horrendous how it affected me. Had I not been so many years into (it) and so secure managing my sobriety it would have been a very very dangerous tipping point for me.”
Despite her personal struggles with the medication, she acknowledged its benefits for others, stating: “One of the things I am always glad of the opportunity of being able to tell people is that, ADHD medication changes so many peoples lives for the better, but there are some people it is not good for and I was absolutely one of them.”
Denise also admitted that her past behaviour had an impact on her son, something she felt she needed to “take accountability” for.
She confessed: “I did lots of things wrong and you know, Matty and I, we had to have a come to Jesus about things that I was in denial about, how my behaviours have impacted on him. But he has also said ‘but then again mum, if our house wasn’t a bit rock and roll, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.”
“But you have to take accountability and I was very defensive. All alcoholics are very defensive and all alcoholics, when pushed into a corner, will blame somebody else for why that has happened to them, ‘it’s my illness, it’s because of this, it’s because I was getting a divorce’, it’s not, there are not excuses, there are reasons.”