Children's behaviour problems: a NICE mess
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Updated: Apr 24, 2026

The Adventures of Fundi Intervention Based on the Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Patients
Published on: June 12, 2020
1Child and Family Services, Lincolnshire Partnership NHSFT, Lincoln, UK.
Abstract:
The potential harms of medicalisation are well known. A good illustration comes from the medicalisation of children's behaviour problems. National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Conduct Disorder (CD) reflect how attempts to regulate medical practice in this area has spawned guidelines based more on wish fulfilment (that getting kids to behave themselves can be accomplished by simple technological interventions that exist independent of context) than scientific evidence. In this perspective piece, I explain why these NICE guidelines are more a reflection of cultural confusion about how to deal with children, than the outcome of sound scientific understanding in this area.
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