Disruptive Behavior
Disorders, also referred to also as Behavior Disorders, are the most
common reasons children are referred for mental health practitioners
for possible treatment. All disruptive behavior is not the same, Behavior
Disorders is an umbrella term that includes more specific disorders,
such as Conduct Disorder, Oppositional
Defiance Disorder, and ADHD.
Attention Deficit
Disorder:
ADHD or ADD
is characterized by inattention or hyperactivity, persisting for
at least 6 months to a degree that is maladaptive and immature.
Oppositional Defiant
Disorder:
In Oppositional
Defiant Disorder, the child breaks the rules of those in the family
and the school. Oppositional Defiant Disorder may occur in children
of any age and in adolescents. Sometimes Oppositional Defiant Disorder
leads to Conduct Disorder.
Conduct Disorder Behaviors:
In Conduct
Disorder, the rules broken include the regulations and laws made
by society. Conduct Disorder usually occurs in older children and
adolescents. Between one and four percent of young persons seven
to seventeen have Conduct Disorder.
Cause:
Research has identified
both biological and environmental causes for Disruptive Behavior Disorders.
Youngsters most at risk for Oppositional
Defiant and Conduct Disorder
are those who have low birth weight, neurological damage or Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Youngsters may also be at risk
if they were rejected by their mothers as babies, separated from their
parents and not given good foster care, physically or sexually
abused, raised in homes with mothers who were abused, or living
in poverty.
Treatment:
Because so many of the factors
that cause Disruptive Behavior Disorders happen very early in a child’s
life, it is important to recognize the problems as early as possible
and get treatment. The treatment which appears to have shown the best
results is a combination of specialized
Parent Skills training. Parent training and therapy with the child
or adolescent, is most effective when done in the family home.
Counseling
and Psychotherapy [ See
Therapy Section ]:
Behavior Therapies
to teach how to control and express feelings in healthy ways.
See
Relevant Disorder Section
Pharmacotherapy
[ See Psychopharmacology
Section ] :
No medications
have been effective in reducing the symptoms of Oppositional Defiant
or Conduct Disorders.
See
Relevant Disorder Section
