“My child is hyperactive”… The temptation is strong, in front of a difficult, turbulent child, to stick this very fashionable label to him, rather than that of “dirty kid”. However, hyperactivity is only one symptom that contributes to a highly publicized psychiatric disorder: ADHD, for “Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder”. A diagnosis that would affect 3 to 5% of children of school age in our country, one to two per class, or 400,000 aged 4 to 18 years. The media coverage of hyperactivity has masked the importance of the other symptoms that belong to three families: agitation but also impulsiveness (lack of patience, anger) and especially attention deficit.
American invention or particularism, overvaluation? These accusations are not new, nothing typical of our time: medicine has been talking about them since the 19the century, and in societies that have not benefited from our development, we meet children suffering from the same symptoms, which disqualifies the responsibility of our modern way of life.
No responsible area has been identified in the brain; these are more likely to be defects in the maturation of the circuits, which explains why a third of children recover without treatment, thanks to the ripening process which must be accompanied.
Is education involved?
Most families of patients seem to lack consistency in the demands of daily life, but this brings us back to genetics: its importance is such, found in 70% of cases, that it is not uncommon for a parent to be affected. of the same disease; or both… which does not facilitate treatment!
The absence of abnormal brain or detectable chemical changes lead some doctors to speak of invention to justify the prescription of drugs, psychostimulants, considered by some to be drugs.
The treatment of ADHD is the world of paradoxes: the use of video games to stimulate attention, when there is still little they were said to aggravate, and especially the use of a drug similar to amphetamines. Prescribing a stimulant seems paradoxical at first sight in a hyperactive person. In fact, we use its action on attention deficit, which has the effect of calming agitation. A quick tour of the internet shows the passionate atmosphere surrounding these drugs, which some people hesitate to call “kiddy coke”, children’s drugs. A much-discussed, probably effective, but over-prescribed treatment in nearly eight million children worldwide.
In France, only 5% of ADHD follow this drug treatment which is only reserved for severe forms and if other approaches fail. Our doctors prefer rehabilitation techniques, education of the child certainly but also of parents, work with teachers; real solutions but much more restrictive than using a simple pill…
There is no link between ADHD and the intelligence and academic difficulties suffered by most of these children are related to behavioral problems or attention deficit disorder. However, as they age, 50% of children retain their symptoms, which explains the figure of 7% of the adult population affected, according to the most recent study.
Doctor Jean-François Lemoine
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