4:30pm. Leaving school, your child has lost their pencil case again. Their homework diary says they were restless or daydreaming. You ask them a question and they don’t listen to the end of it. The diagnosis has come in: your child has Attention Deficit Disorder. Psychotherapy or diet? Medication or homeopathy? Some treatments have pros and cons, while others are simply useless. Here’s an overview of the different ways to treat ADHD and their impact.
Understanding Attention Deficit Disorder, with or without hyperactivity
Defining the disorder
ADHD affects children, but also adults, since it’s a dysfunction that doesn’t go away over time. It is an attention deficit disorder that can be accompanied by hyperactivity. People affected have great difficulty staying focused, paying attention, and waiting patiently without fidgeting.
The causes of ADHD
This neurological disorder is linked to abnormal brain development and functioning. It stems from an imbalance between dopamine and noradrenaline that disrupts normal brain function. Heredity is also a common cause of ADHD. During pregnancy, a foetus exposed to chemical substances such as alcohol, tobacco or pesticides is much more likely to develop this disorder. Finally, any harm to the brain, such as an injury, an infection, or inadequate oxygen supply, increases the risk of ADHD.
Helping and supporting a child with ADHD
Beyond the child’s GP, treating ADHD can involve a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a psychomotor therapist and a speech therapist, since it’s a combination of measures which, working together, help improve the child’s behaviour and their relationships at home and at school.
Psychotherapy: This concerns the child, but often also the exhausted parents. Psychotherapies tailored to ADHD are highly effective as a standalone treatment. Memory, time management, self-esteem and organisation all improve noticeably. It can be combined with relaxation sessions and follow-up with a psychomotor therapist when the disorder comes with coordination difficulties (dyspraxia). Family therapy is also recommended to restore a balance disrupted by the child’s behaviour. The network of psychotherapists specialised in ADHD on the ORA e-health platform also offers online consultations for greater scheduling flexibility and easier follow-up.
“It’s a downward spiral of self-devaluation that quickly affects the balance of the whole family, and can even have harmful consequences for the child’s psychological and emotional development.”
Haute Autorité de Santé (the French national health authority)
Speech therapy: ADHD is generally accompanied by associated disorders. These include learning difficulties with language (spoken and written). Dyslexia, dysorthographia and dyscalculia are often added on top of a child’s ADHD. Speech therapy works on all these behavioural particularities to maximise the child’s chances of success, adaptation and learning. To make regular speech therapy sessions easier, ORA has set up an online speech therapy service. These online consultations are of the same quality as an in-person appointment, with simplified logistics, great flexibility in booking, and accessible anywhere in the world.
Collaboration between child, parents and teachers: Parents need real parental guidance and support. Genuine cooperation with the teaching team and the parents then proves essential. Encouragement and rewards should be part of adapting parenting behaviour on a daily basis. Self-esteem is at risk for a child with ADHD. It’s important to tip the balance towards the positive, every single day.
“Parents remain the most important ‘therapists’ for these children.”
François Raymond, paediatrician
Building school-related skills: Teachers have an important role to play. Setting up simple, visual classroom rules, clearly stating the day’s programme, creating routines, making time visible to help the child find their bearings, maintaining a calm atmosphere, favouring reward over punishment… all of these are helpful adjustments for a child with ADHD to thrive.
Alternative methods for treating ADHD
Homeopathy. This therapy uses plant and mineral extracts tailored to the child’s condition. Despite certain reservations (such as changes to treatment being made mid-analysis), recent studies have shown a significant improvement in the behaviour of children with ADHD using homeopathy.
Bach flower remedies, herbal medicine and aromatherapy: These more or less concentrated forms of plant extracts or essential oils each have specific properties. Clematis for lack of concentration and low vitality, Mimulus for reducing fears and shyness, or Larch for building self-confidence, are examples of Bach flower remedies. Peppermint essential oil (from age 12) and Roman chamomile are also recommended to improve attention and reduce hyperactivity. Their effectiveness isn’t clearly proven, and their use must always be supervised by a healthcare professional.
Hypnosis. By connecting the child’s inner imaginary world to therapeutic change, hypnosis gives them a sense of control and boosts their self-esteem. Recommended as part of a broader treatment plan (alongside psychotherapy and multidisciplinary follow-up, for example), it builds the child’s skills and helps them manage stress. This effectiveness isn’t directly linked to the actual symptoms of ADHD, but it creates favourable conditions for their overall improvement.
Dietary approaches. This is a popular type of alternative treatment for ADHD based on various diets (salicylate-free and additive-free diets, elimination of common allergens, restriction of sugar and aspartame, etc.). Numerous studies show that their impact on ADHD treatment isn’t supported by evidence. The same applies to megavitamin therapy, which involves giving the child certain vitamins in high doses. Its toxicity is more worrying than its already-demonstrated lack of effectiveness.
Other alternatives. Many methods are offered to improve the condition of children and adults with ADHD. While some are worth considering, such as osteopathy, others are much more questionable and needlessly expensive.
- NLP (neuro-linguistic programming)
- Neurofeedback
- Massage therapy
- The Tomatis Method
- Sophrology
- Haptonomy
- Chiropractic
- Equine-assisted therapy
- Chromotherapy
- Acupuncture
- Play therapy
Medication
When these solutions and methods don’t produce sufficiently significant results, the doctor responsible for a child with ADHD may, as a last resort, prescribe medication. The dosage, choice of medication and length of treatment must be based on a rigorous assessment of the severity of the dysfunction and the child’s age. Taking medication to treat ADHD should not be the first option. However, it can be justified temporarily to reduce symptoms and make it easier to work on self-control alongside other approaches.
While there’s no treatment that cures the underlying cause of the disorder, certain prescriptions can help ease its symptoms. By reducing the effects of ADHD, medication creates a better context for making deeper progress with other treatment methods.
Methylphenidate (Rilatine®, Concerta®, Medikinet®, Quazim®)
This psychostimulant is prescribed from age 6 onwards, under strict conditions. When therapeutic work, school support and family guidance aren’t producing enough results, methylphenidate should come as a complement to the child’s overall care, not a replacement for it. Not all children with ADHD tolerate methylphenidate or benefit from it. The most significant risks associated with taking this medication include nervousness, social withdrawal, the appearance of nervous tics, and a slight reduction in growth.
Antipsychotics
These antipsychotic drugs are too often prescribed when a child shows aggression linked to their ADHD. This treatment can complement methylphenidate but can never replace it. Yet their use remains heavily controversial, since there is a risk associated with early exposure of children to this type of medication (significant weight gain, development of diabetes).
“Antipsychotic medications – such as Risperdal, Zyprexa and Seroquel – were developed to treat schizophrenia. In addition to schizophrenia, these powerful drugs have been shown to be able to treat certain ADHD-related behaviours, but not the core symptoms of hyperactivity and inattention,”
Paul Kurdyak, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES)
There are many treatment options. It’s worth combining some of them, since they complement each other effectively. Therapy, natural medicine, adapting the child’s environment and, as a last resort, medication, together allow for comprehensive, personalised management of the disorder for the best possible results.
