What Is Oppositional Defiant Disorder?

There is a large overlap between Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, with similarities in both disorders that include: anger bullying of peers and siblings defiance disobedience rebellion against authority resentment school problems In order to differentiate between the two, one of the things a therapist will generally look at is how the adolescent treats animals. Is he or she mean or cruel to the family pets or kind to them? Another area that is looked at is whether or not there have been legal problems, what those legal problems were, and if they are recurring or one-time events. For example, many adolescents experiment with shoplifting and end up getting caught, but this does not mean they have either a Conduct Disorder or Oppositional Defiant Disorder. However, if they keep shoplifting, or their activities turn to more serious stealing behavior, it is probably safe to assume that there is a more serious behavior problem going on. In addition

Data collected in numerous studies indicates that about 50% of kids with ADHD will also develop Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) or Conduct Disorder (CD) at some point during their development. An interesting finding has been that although "pure" ADHD (i.e., without either Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Conduct Disorder) is quite common in kids, the reverse is less likely. In other words, it appears that most kids under age 12 who meet criteria for Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Conduct Disorder will also be diagnosed with ADHD. In these cases, it appears that the impulsivity and over activity that is characteristic of ADHD kids, and the ensuing difficulties this creates in parent-child, teacher-child, and peer relationships, increases the risk for the kind of problematic interactions that promote the develop of these other disruptive behavior disorders. The long term outcomes of kids with pure ADHD - and with ADHD plus Conduct Disorder - are very diffe