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Why French Kids Don't Have ADHD


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http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suffer-the-children/201203/why-french-kids-dont-have-adhd

 

 

The case against labeling and medicating children, and effective alternatives for treating them
by Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D.
Why French Kids Don't Have ADHD
French children don't need medications to control their behavior.
Published on March 8, 2012 by Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D. in Suffer the Children
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The French child psychiatrists don't use the same system of classification of childhood emotional problems as American psychiatrists. They do not use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM. According to Sociologist Manuel Vallee, the French Federation of Psychiatry developed an alternative classification system as a resistance to the influence of the DSM-3. This alternative was the CFTMEA (Classification Française des Troubles Mentaux de L'Enfant et de L'Adolescent), first released in 1983, and updated in 1988 and 2000. The focus of CFTMEA is on identifying and addressing the underlying psychosocial causes of children's symptoms, not on finding the best pharmacological bandaids with which to mask symptoms.

To the extent that French clinicians are successful at finding and repairing what has gone awry in the child's social context, fewer children qualify for the ADHD diagnosis. Moreover, the definition of ADHD is not as broad as in the American system, which, in my view, tends to "pathologize" much of what is normal childhood behavior. The DSM specifically does not consider underlying causes. It thus leads clinicians to give the ADHD diagnosis to a much larger number of symptomatic children, while also encouraging them to treat those children with pharmaceuticals.

The French holistic, psychosocial approach also allows for considering nutritional causes for ADHD-type symptoms—specifically the fact that the behavior of some children is worsened after eating foods with artificial colors, certain preservatives, and/or allergens. Clinicians who work with troubled children in this country—not to mention parents of many ADHD kids—are well aware that dietary interventions can sometimes help a child's problem. In the United States, the strict focus on pharmaceutical treatment of ADHD, however, encourages clinicians to ignore the influence of dietary factors on children's behavior.

And then, of course, there are the vastly different philosophies of child-rearing in the United States and France. These divergent philosophies could account for why French children are generally better-behaved than their American counterparts. Pamela Druckerman highlights the divergent parenting styles in her recent book, Bringing up Bébé. I believe her insights are relevant to a discussion of why French children are not diagnosed with ADHD in anything like the numbers we are seeing in the United States.

From the time their children are born, French parents provide them with a firm cadre—the word means "frame" or "structure." Children are not allowed, for example, to snack whenever they want. Mealtimes are at four specific times of the day. French children learn to wait patiently for meals, rather than eating snack foods whenever they feel like it. French babies, too, are expected to conform to limits set by parents and not by their crying selves. French parents let their babies "cry it out" if they are not sleeping through the night at the age of four months.

French parents, Druckerman observes, love their children just as much as American parents. They give them piano lessons, take them to sports practice, and encourage them to make the most of their talents. But French parents have a different philosophy of discipline. Consistently enforced limits, in the French view, make children feel safe and secure. Clear limits, they believe, actually make a child feel happier and safer—something that is congruent with my own experience as both a therapist and a parent. Finally, French parents believe that hearing the word "no" rescues children from the "tyranny of their own desires." And spanking, when used judiciously, is not considered child abuse in France. (Author's note: I am not personally in favor of spanking children).

As a therapist who works with children, it makes perfect sense to me that French children don't need medications to control their behavior because they learn self-control early in their lives. The children grow up in families in which the rules are well-understood, and a clear family hierarchy is firmly in place. In French families, as Druckerman describes them, parents are firmly in charge of their kids—instead of the American family style, in which the situation is all too often vice versa.

Copyright © Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D.

Marilyn Wedge is the author of Pills Are Not for Preschoolers: A Drug-Free Approach for Troubled Kids

Website: MarilynWedgephd.com

Twitter: marilyn Wedge

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Marilyn-Wedge

 

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  • 2 months later...

In our society lack of self discipline is rapidly becoming a social issue, and the results (alcoholism, obesity, drug use) are getting classified as 'diseases'. After all, SOMEBODY has to pay for all those visits to the docs, the shrinks, the sodial worker, the group support meetings, not to mention all the psychotropic MEDS! Crying "Im a victim!" is much easier than working; and crying "my child is a victim" is almost as good. Having a child with a mental disorder is profitable for some who work the (welfare) system. They WANT their children fouled up because it works to their benefit. Talk about the ultimate selfishness...!

I don't want to be uncharitable, but enough already! For about 5-6 years now we have been seeing 'I have ADHD' or a similar excused used as a defense for criminal activity. But heaven forbid we should insist on self-discipline from folks. It is a real head-shaker. We need to define 'adult' a different way then merely years of age.

Edited by kappydell
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Don't forget that a diagnosis like that can help the family get disability benefits on the child

Edited by Deerslayer
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And how 'bout that "affluenza" diagnosis......er, defense in court.

 

MtRider ....tho I'm not sure I'd buy how great the French are doing at the ideals mentioned in the article. Really? All French parents are so clear, firm, loving, and judicious? But there is unmistakeably too much lack of it here!

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Don't forget that a diagnosis like that can help the family get disability benefits on the child

Not to mention that with a documented disability you can petition for special accommodations on the SAT and other standardized tests (such as an expanded time limit or no time limit). You get the kid to shut up, sit down, and pay attention and then get special treatment for tests.

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Oh it's not just the parents. Most kids are pulled out of their families for the vast majority of the day and then spend their time with parents who are already worn out from the day. The schools, the tv shows, the friends, everyone contributes to how people, society, sees things like disabilities and responsibility.

 

And imo that bit about letting 4 month old's cry it out, has little to do with teaching children old enough to understand how to behave. Not bragging, nor claiming that any of us here are perfect. But my kids are pretty good kids that know how to work, and we never used cry it out.

 

It's also a sign of how little respect we have for differences. If you can't fit in the tiny little box of approved behavior, you must have something wrong with you.

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