
Why French Kids Don't Have ADHD - walterbell
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/suffer-the-children/201203/why-french-kids-dont-have-adhd
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JPLeRouzic
There are a few things that are incorrect in this article:

* Indeed French kids could be diagnosed as having ADHD, for example in CRA [0] (in French). I know it first hand.

* Spanking is forbidden in France by law and most parents do not spank.

* French kid education does not have the high qualities that are alleged in this article. In fact the current government is making great steps toward the right direction [1] (in French).

* It is a kind of discourse where "the lawn is greener in this foreign mysterious country".

[0]
[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Ressources_Autisme](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Ressources_Autisme)

[1]
[http://www.cafepedagogique.net/lexpresso/Pages/2018/01/08012...](http://www.cafepedagogique.net/lexpresso/Pages/2018/01/08012018Article636509921667912467.aspx)

~~~
jaclaz
>* Spanking is forbidden in France by law and most parents do not spank.

To be fair, while I believe most French parents do not spank their children,
nor did it in recent years, the Law is rather new:

[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/france-bans-spanking-
ki...](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/france-bans-spanking-kids-with-
new-law_us_5873ccc1e4b02b5f858a39ff)

and is not a crime, as said in the above article is more a symbolic act to
make clear that it shouldn't be done than anything else.

But, let's set aside France and french kids, more widely mosr European
countries have a percentage of diagnosed ADHD that is a fraction of those in
the US, and even if the numbers of diagnoses tend to increase, it is IMHO
largely because of the US influence (not only in psichology and psichiatry,
also in "way of life").

Some reference:

[http://menzonius.nl/index.php/article-review-the-
impending-g...](http://menzonius.nl/index.php/article-review-the-impending-
globalization-of-adhd-notes-on-the-expansion-and-growth-of-a-medicalized-
disorder/)

~~~
JPLeRouzic
> while I believe most French parents do not spank their children, nor did it
> in recent years, the Law is rather new:

I think the French law on this topic is more or less aligned on international
standards which are quite recent at WHO or in EU.

But one of the first regulations in France about spanking in school was passed
in 1795 (even if I saw some violent teachers in the 60")

~~~
jaclaz
>I think the French law on this topic is more or less aligned on international
standards which are quite recent at WHO or in EU.

Maybe it is _now_ , actually France received a complaint by the Council of
Europe in 2015 for NOT having such a Law (together with a few other EU
countries) or not having it "clear enough":

[https://www.coe.int/bs/web/portal/full-
news/-/asset_publishe...](https://www.coe.int/bs/web/portal/full-
news/-/asset_publisher/Dgh51iCGvfbg/content/corporal-punishment-of-children)

[http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/assets/pdfs/press-
relea...](http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/assets/pdfs/press-
releases/France-collective-complaint-decision-statement-EN.pdf)

[https://web.archive.org/web/20150305031324/http://www.coe.in...](https://web.archive.org/web/20150305031324/http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/socialcharter/Complaints/CC92Merits_en.pdf)

Of course one thing is the Law, and another thing is practice, as said I
believe that in most EU countries, even those that do not have a "proper" Law
the actual use of corporal punishments (within the family) is largely a thing
of the past.

About corporal punishment in schools or anyway outside the family/paretns
(which is another thing), I believe it is forbidden everywhere, and as you
mentioned last occurrences were probably in the '60's, see the map here:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment#Legal_stat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment#Legal_status)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment#/media/Fil...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment#/media/File:Corporal_punishment_in_Europe.svg)

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himom
Such bullshit. My father believed this nonsense that “ADHD is a conspiracy
(theory) to control children, therefore it doesn’t exist and medication is
unnecessary.” No, they don’t understand how the other kids will label the ADHD
kid as weird, exclude them and they won’t be able to complete tasks they
start.. because it’s emotional and/or executive function disregulation. Watch
the great videos on YT to learn more about the horrible possible side-effects
of untreated ADHD: homelessness, joblessness, friendlessness, lovelessness,
depression, anxiety, suicide, etc. And ADHD is extremely treatable as well.

\- Lifelong undiagnosed ADHD

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smittywerben
The article is by a family therapist selling their book/service, not a medical
doctor.

Also it's ironic a Bioethics PhD wants to model ADHD after the French system.
Their history with psychiatry leaves reason for so few French psychiatrists
contributing to the ICD and DSM.

France is better known for their neurological contributions anyways.

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atetlaw
[https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pay-
attention/201511...](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pay-
attention/201511/french-kids-do-have-adhd)

~~~
JPLeRouzic
Indeed and it also well describe my feeling as a parent about France's
(sometimes) invisible ADHD.

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amriksohata
I think the French also take their food very seriously, they believe that
their food habits of children are established in the first few years so are
much more likely to have mother's that stave off alcholol, cigarettes,
paracetamol etc during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

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soufron
Well, it looks to me to be very similar to the obesity epidemic in the US.
Both countries are developed. France is not a "foreign mysterious country".
Its doctors are actually as good as US ones, it offers a better life
expectancy and a better health coverage. And it's true that nearly nobody
takes Ritalin in France.

But that does not mean the French situation is perfect. There are several
recent articles pointing to ADHD being under-diagnosed in France - with many
doctors reluctant to accept it, and/or being very cautious with regards to its
dangerous secondary effects.

So it's probably somewhere in-between.

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Hnrobert42
I lost interest after this unsubstantiated statement:

These divergent philosophies could account for why French children are
generally better-behaved than their American counterparts.

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egwynn
Title should indicate publishing year please (2012)

