Risky Sexual Behavior & ADHD

[@alicia_nicole]

I was a well behaved kid and did well in school but by 19 i had got pregnant 3 times and had my license suspended and was also raped. I felt so ashamed. Knowing this does provide some relief, thank you.

[@beerman1957]

I am sorry this happened to you.

[@tomorrowishere11215]

Thank you for sharing

[@logical582]

How do you feel about it now, looking back on it?

[@Handle8844]

Wow. What a strong argument for early detection and treatment of ADHD!

[@rfb411]

Hi Dr B, thank you for talking about this. I know I'm not alone in my experience as a woman diagnosed with ADHD at midlife - after gaining awareness and starting medication, reflecting on my behaviours and experiences of abuse and sexual violence as a teen and young adult was incredibly painful. The legacy of those experiences never leaves us.... The grief was difficult to work through but I now feel so much compassion for the young person I was.

[@vrilginitymaxxer]

Amazing video, doctor! It would be interesting to see a video about those with LACK of sexual behavior due to ADHD (I'm dealing with someone like this). Thank you for the informative videos

[@meredithwilliams4326]

Literally me, I did some sex work in college to help with bills, just didn’t think the whole thing through. Not able to really plan a better way to make money!

[@philmorales208]

Great work ! Thank you so much!! You’ve answered so many questions about my life!!! Thank you !

[@publius9350]

Dr. Barkley, I think this is a great time to mention Statler from 90 day fiance as a person in the pop culture sphere who has said she was diagnosed with ADHD, who also very much constructs her ego around sex. If you want to reach larger audiences, I think it would be great to reach out to her. Or you could just watch the show and use it for discussing your thoughts on the emotional components of ADHD.

[@russellbarkleyphd2023]

Thanks for the suggestion.

[@TylerjWebb]

The partner thing is wild. I have adhd and I've been with one woman going on nine years now. I really managed to buck that trend. I'm thankful to my Christian upbringing for helping me to make that choice to resist short term choices. Side note it would be really cool to screen studies for all nerodeviations and show data for nerotypical vs each individual deviation. For example if they were looking at autism in similar behavior and didn't screen out adhd it would skew the average. Idk I just find study methodology so interesting.

[@ClaV-b5s]

Thank you Dr. Russell

[@petreang]

I have been lucky though! I have had my first and only child at 37. My mom gave birth to me at 16, birth complications, prematurity, low birth weight and all the things you know. I don't know, maybe my anxiety disorder protect me from having sex earlier or maybe is the fact that I see my mom struggling with mood, single parenting, ecc Oh, and my psychiatrist told me that I am "particularly conscientious" meaning that I am rigid and moralistic maybe, which I am

[@MixMeMcGee]

It’s called a ✨special interest✨, *Russell*. Edit - (jokes are potent deflection 😅)

[@publius9350]

Want to do some potent deflection and then explore special interests?

[@MixMeMcGee]

@@publius9350 add a hypothesis & some data collection and maybe that can be the title of our research paper

[@Alex-js5lg]

One issue I can see is that most stimulants have worn off by the evening when most sexual activity is on the table. I assume the reduction in impulsivity is generally lessened as the medication wears off?

[@camronchlarson3767]

That's a really good point. Dr B has also talked about Executive Function being like a gas tank and it definitely can feel very depleted at the end of the day. I also find my impulsivity extremely lacking at night which leads to revenge bedtime procrastination. The more I'm up at night, the more impulsive I am, the more I want to get up to stuff.

[@mjbe]

I was *not* sexually active as a teen (socially withdrawn) but I think addressing how to date and have relationships, easier to access contraception, and awareness that HPV immunizations are available for a wider ange range of adults now would benefit early and late activity ADHD folks alike. In the U.S., you can never be sure that a person knows facts about sex, so it kind of falls to every professional to check on us. Sorry, every professional.

[@blehman5574]

There's several nofap advocates that cite that porn addictions shrink dopamine receptors/certain parts of the brain- Is there any validity to this claim, and could porn addictions possibly make ADHD worse?

[@bisiilki]

I'm lucky that I've been in long term relationships cause when i had a breakup with my current boyfriend for 7 weeks I went full impulsivity sex mad. I kinda snapped out of it and my boyfriend must have spidey sensed and messaged me and we got back together. I felt very out of control.

[@aparthia]

Interesting presentation. Did a medical intervention change any of these behaviors?

[@russellbarkleyphd2023]

Yes, as noted toward the end of the presentation.

[@ClaytownGolfspa]

I don’t have any risky sexual behaviors when my meds are working which wasn’t that way beforehand when I was self medicating with caffeine. I’m struggling to get things under control after my stimulant meds have worn off and I’ve had a lot of addiction therapy over the past decade. Could anyone give any thoughts on how to deal with rebound when Adderall wears off😅

[@kinetic-cybernetic]

Ok none of these wonders happened to me in time. now I not only feel disabled but also a loser.

[@flawlix]

I resemble some of these findings, thought I’ve fortunately avoided accidental pregnancy (so far 🤞). Curious about whether there are any studies into the types of sexual behavior people with ADHD are likely to engage in. E.g., are people with ADHD more likely to engage in BDSM, have group sex, experiment with same sex partners despite proclaimed heterosexuality, etc. Anecdotally, my ADHD friends seem a little, well, kinkier than my non-ADHD friends. And I’ve noticed a tendency in myself to seek some kind of additional sensory input alongside sex. So I’m curious about whether there’s any data to support my assumption that people with ADHD tend to be more experimental in their sex lives (possibly due to a need for more stimulation to stay fully engaged).

[@Tlahuiltezcatl]

Sick

[@Herfinnur]

The pick-up "artists" are sitting here scribbling notes 😖

[@derex47]

😂 👎

[@ajaym6795]

This seems like a very American thing since the 🇺🇲 glorifies sex like none other. This probably doesnt apply to people with ADHD in other countries where people are more civilized and not looking to lose their virginity by 16.

[@nobody8328]

I'm American, but I wasn't raised with any hangups about sex, and was well educated about the risks, etc I was looking for the stimulation that comes with discovering a fun new partner rather than because someone told me not to.

[@flawlix]

He literally talks about similar studies showing the same results for other countries.

[@ajaym6795]

@@flawlix Not reliable. Other countries aren't as open to mental health as USA. It isn't as easy to get participants for stuff like this any where else.

[@Squadbusterskingz]

Hi doctor please reply to me if you can 😢, i got diagnosed for ADHD, and they put me on concerta 27mg, it didn't work like I just took nothing. I decided to instead take two 27mg tablets everyday instead of 1 as 1 is just to low dose and im not welling to wait for my next appointment. I told my doctor i did that anyway. But this medicine affects my erection so much its almost i get no erection from it 😞, i have no heart problems, very healthy guy, healthy weight as well, i had no issues in regarding this matter for whats ever before i take this medicine. Its the complete opposite. Before I start taking this medicine, i used to get a very strong erection and as many times as i want per day never had one peoblem in my life in relation to this. But definitely this medine affcets it so bad. Im not taking this as a side affect at any cost. Im welling to change the medication. Do you think if I switched to another type of stimulant ADHD medication will work and i wont have this issue? Or all adhd medication will cause this😢? I understand all ADHD medication works the same way but do you think one stimulant might work without this side affect? I have severe ADHD its really affected my life and getting off the medication will make me suffer so much in life, although im not taking this issue as a side affect too😢.