In France, the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is viewed in a very different way than in the United States.
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The French reject the criteria that the American doctors apply to diagnose children with this disorder, as well as the idea that the medicines which are prescribed for this condition are at all effective.
Children in France Are Not Medicated for ADHD
The levels of ADHD in the children of these two cultures are very different. In America, the rate is 19%, while in France, it is only 0.5%.
The treatment for this half percent doesn’t involve any usage of medicines. Instead, the French opt for more traditional methods of treating this disorder.
Methods of Treating ADHD
While the American psychiatrists define ADHD as a chemical disorder which is caused due to imbalances in brain chemicals called neurotransmitters, France claims that this disorder is caused as a result of various social situations.
Instead of treating the diagnosed children with medications, the psychiatrists observe their behavior, and they compare it with the current social situations.
In France, this disorder is viewed as a behavioral issue that is caused by outside situations, and, therefore, it is treated with therapy and family counseling.
Apart from the social circumstances, the French psychiatrists state that the patient’s diet plays an important role in the development of ADHD.
They believe that bad eating habits, which include an intake of large amounts of sugar, artificial flavorings, artificial colors, and caffeine, have a drastic impact on the child’s behavior.
The rate of ADHD among the French children is far lower because, unlike the children in America, the children in France are less subjected to sugar and additive-laden foods.
They usually consume much lower amounts of fast food, sugary cereals, and fizzy drinks than the U.S. children.
On the other hand, the doctors in the U.S. are urged to treat the children who are diagnosed with ADHD with prescription drugs.
The children are given drugs, such as Adderall (amphetamine, dextroamphetamine mixed salts) and Ritalin (methylphenidate), without previously trying any other methods.
These drugs can provide the children with significant side effects since they are considered to belong to the same class as oxycodone and morphine because of their high risk of addiction and abuse.
Nevertheless, the prescription can be reviewed only in drastic circumstances since the complaints of the parents are commonly ignored.
According to Dr. Edward C. Hamlyn, a founding member of the Royal College of General Practitioners, ADHD is a fraud which aim is to justify the children’s introduction to a life of drug addiction.
Moreover, in 2009, Leon Eisenberg, one of the founding fathers of ADHD as a psychiatric disorder, confessed on his deathbed that this condition is a fictitious disease, meaning that the medical treatment for ADHD, which involves a use of drugs, is completely unnecessary.
Unfortunately, most of the U.S. doctors and parents believe that the usage of the prescription drugs can help the children, due to the information that is provided by Big Pharma, which falsely claims that they can improve their condition.