Disruptive Behavior Disorders Psychology

Disruptive Behavior Disorders Psychology essay assignment

Disruptive Behavior Disorders Psychology essay assignment

1.) What characteristics place children and adolescents at greater risk for developing disruptive behavior disorders? Please specify each characteristic and describe how this may impact a child or adolescent in a negative way.

2.) How does the diathesis-stress model relate with comorbidity and co-occurring symptoms? Identify the specific disorder this model is associated with and describe the characteristics of this model.

What are Disruptive Behavior Disorders?
Disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) can seriously impact a child’s daily life. Children with disruptive behavior disorders show ongoing patterns of uncooperative and defiant behavior.

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Their responses to authority figures range from indifference to hostility. Their behavior frequently impacts those around them, including teachers, peers, and family members.

The most common types of disruptive behavior disorders include disruptive behavior disorder not otherwise specified (DBD NOS), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD). Children with these behavioral disorders can be stubborn, difficult, disobedient, and irritable.

Children with conduct disorder show the same responses to authority figures as discussed above, but in addition, they have a tendency to be physically aggressive and both actively and intentionally violate others’ rights.

The main differences between these disorders are severity, intensity and intentionality of behavior exhibited by the child.

What Symptoms Should Parents Look for?
Children with oppositional defiant disorder often lose their temper. They are quick to argue with adults over rules or requests. They are likely to:

Be uncooperative
Argue, even about small and unimportant things
Refuse to follow rules
Deliberately annoy others, and become easily annoyed by other people
Blame others for their mistakes or misbehavior
Behave in angry, resentful, spiteful, and vindictive ways
Anyone is capable of displaying any of these behaviors. Children with oppositional defiant disorder display them more often than others their age. They are likely to be involved in frequent conflicts with their peers. And they often face discipline at school.

Children and teens who have conduct disorder are likely to:

Lack respect or regard for others
Be aggressive toward other people and animals
Bully and intimidate others
Willfully destroy property
Steal and lie without feeling bad about it
Be truant frequently
Run away from home
There is usually nothing easy-going or positive about young people with conduct disorder. They tend to be difficult and negative. They generally lack regard for other people’s rights or feelings.
What Causes Disruptive Behavior Disorders?
The causes of disruptive behavior disorders are unknown. But the disorders are thought to spring from different factors working together:

Heredity. Children with disruptive behavior disorders often have parents with mental health disorders, including

Substance abuse.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
A mood disorder.
Schizophrenia.
Antisocial personality disorder.
However, affected children have also been known to come from healthy families that function well.

Environment. There is an increased risk for disruptive behavior disorders among children who were:

Rejected by their mothers as infants.
Separated from their parents.
Recipients of poor foster care.
Physically, emotionally, or sexually abused or neglected.
In addition, children who have lived in poverty, or witnessed domestic violence or substance abuse, are at a greater risk for developing the disorders.

Physical. There is a greater risk for developing disruptive behavior disorders among children who:

Had low birth weight.
Have suffered neurological damage.
Psychological. Children who have suffered from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are at a higher risk for developing disruptive behavior disorders.

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Approximately one-third to one-half of all children with ADHD may have coexisting oppositional defiant disorder. Conduct disorder may occur in 25 percent of children and 45 percent of adolescents with ADHD.

How are Disruptive Behavior Disorders Diagnosed?
Disruptive behavior disorders can be difficult to diagnose. This is because children and adolescents living with anxiety, depression, chronic stress and other conditions may act out in ways that seem like a disruptive behavior disorder. These behaviors may be associated with another condition. A licensed practitioner will completely review your child’s symptoms to determine his or her diagnosis.

How are Disruptive Behavior Disorders Treated?
Children with disruptive behavior disorders often benefit from special behavioral techniques. These can be implemented at home and at school. Therapeutic approaches typically include methods for:

For younger children (under age 9), interventions that help parents more successfully manage their child’s behaviors are very effective
Training children to become more aware of their own anger cues
Using anger cues as signals to initiate various coping strategies
Providing positive reinforcement to improve self-control
If a child has a diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder, it may be decided to place him in a special classroom set up for more intensive behavior management.

When Should You Seek Help for Disruptive Behavior Disorders?
Children with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder are challenging to live with. Parents need to understand that they do not have to deal with their ODD/CD child alone.

Interventions such as parent training at home and behavioral support in the school can make a difference. Parents should not hesitate to ask for assistance from a mental health professional.

The disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) are mental health problems occurring in children and adolescents, more commonly in boys, characterized by out-of-control behavior. Prevalence rates vary from 1% to 16%. A cluster of factors, including the child’s characteristics, parental interactions, and environmental factors contribute to their development.
Ineffective parenting strategies often underlie these disorders. Parents may have insufficient time and emotional energy for the child or may use inconsistent methods of disciplining and limit setting. These ineffective strategies include authoritarian parenting, wherein the parent demonstrates too much anger or is too harsh, and permissive parenting, with the parent giving in to the child’s excessive demands. Authoritative parenting is defined as having high levels of both warmth and firmness and is the most effective parenting strategy.

The DBD child may be strong-willed because of genetically inherited personality characteristics, certain intrauterine exposures (such as cigarette smoking), lack of positive parental attachment, because of stress, or a lack of predictable structure in the home or community environment. Disruptive behavior disorders are more common in families with serious marital discord, families of low socioeconomic status and in neighborhoods characterized by high crime rates and social disorganization.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Oppositional defiant disorder is the less severe. It is characterized by a recurrent pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient, and hostile behavior, such as deliberately annoying others, frequent arguments, and angry outbursts directed toward authority figures, that is, parents and teachers. To confirm the diagnosis, these behaviors must be more frequent and more severe than normal children exhibit, present at least 6 months and impair the youth’s function at home, at school, or with peers.

The more serious DBD—conduct disorder—is characterized by a persistent pattern of serious rule-violating behavior, including instances that harm or have the potential to harm others. Physical aggression to people and animals, destruction of property, lying or stealing, running away from home, and truancy are typical examples. Boys are more likely to have conduct disorder compared with oppositional defiant disorder. Rather than physical aggression, girls are more prone to use verbal attacks, ostracism, or character defamation. To confirm this diagnosis, DBDs must be present at least 1 year, impairing the youth’s home, school, and/or peer function.

Diagnosis. DBDs are most accurately diagnosed by child and adolescent psychiatrists, child psychologists, child-trained social workers, and clinical nurse specialists. The evaluation requires input from multiple individuals who know the child. The diagnosis is based upon findings from interviews and a mental status examination. There are no specific diagnostic imaging studies, blood tests, or other medical tests that are diagnostic.