Sibling Rivalry
Disorder may occur in families where there is conflict between brothers
and sisters which is so severe that it leads to marital problems,
creates a real danger of physical harm to one or more family members,
is damaging to the self-esteem or psychological well-being of one
or more family members and requires the intervention of psychologist,
psychiatrist, or other mental health professional. The main symptoms
of this disorders are:
Some degree of emotional disturbance usually following the birth of
an immediately younger sibling is shown by a majority of young children.
A sibling rivalry disorder
should be diagnosed only if the degree or persistence of the disturbance
is both statistically unusual and associated with abnormalities of
socialinteraction.
Sibling jealousy.
Is not related to another
psychiatric disorder, such as depression or drug abuse.
The most common
symptom of sibling rivalry is frequent or continuous demands for attention:
the older child may want to be held and carried about, especially
when the parent is involved with the newborn sibling. Other symptoms
may also include; acting like a baby again (regressive behavior),
thumbsucking, wetting, or soiling. Aggressive behavior, may take the
form of handling the newborn..
Associated
Features:
None specifc
have been identified.
Differential
Diagnosis:
Some disorders have similar symptoms. The clinician, therefore, in
his diagnostic attempt, has to differentiate against the following
disorders which need to be ruled out to establish a precise diagnosis.
Anti
Social Personality Disorder.
Conduct Disorder.
Cause:
What causes sibling
rivalry? There are multiple factors invoved. Children who are of a
different sex, and of different ages and temperament figure prominentl.
They also express the disatisfaction of having to share the one person
or the two people they most want for themselves, their parents. Other
factors include:
Position in
the family - the oldest child may be burdened with responsibilities
for the younger children or the younger child spends his life trying
to catch up with an older sibling.
Sex - a son may hate his sister because his father seems more gentle
with her. On the other hand, a daughter may wish she could go on
the hunting trip with her father and brother.
Age - a five and eight year old can play some games together harmoniously
however, when they reach ten and thirteen years of age, they will
probably be poles apart in interests and preferrred activities.
Treatment:
The
most important factor in the treatment of this disorder is parental
attitude. A parents impariality is extremely important. It's inevitable
that parents will feel differently about children who have different
personalities with differing needs, dispositions and place in the
family. It is therefore extremely important the when dealing with
children a "fair" and "consistant" approach is
between both, or more, children.
Counseling
and Psychotherapy [ See
Therapy Section ]:
Treatment consists
of a multimodal treatment program. The family
should also be involved in therapy. Individual psychotherapy is needed
to work on problem solving skills.
Pharmacotherapy
[ See Psychopharmacology
Section ] :
