Wasatchwriter, I don’t know how to get the kid unhooked from the “praise” drug. But an equally helpful question is how do you express disappointment with their effort (or lack of effort)? Do you avoid showing disappointment entirely? And isn’t that, too, a form of coddling, a variant of the “praise” drug? For many reasons, I don’t think the kids who are committing suicide were living the life of “precious snowflakes” at home.
I think you are on to something with your theory.