How Do I Deal With Conduct Disorder In My Child?

As a child, a boy or girl might tend to fight with the peers on some matters due to difference of opinions or might have a habit of stealing due to temptation or a revengeful motive. If these behaviors are within a normal limit, we can explain the child about its ill effects and can make him to avoid such behaviors in future. However, there are times when your child would not listen to you at all and continue with its bad behavior. But, do you know that such behaviors of being aggressive, antisocial, and disobedient; can take place so frequently such that they cross all the limits and are beyond your child’s control. Such a state is known as Conduct Disorder (CD), which is an unexpected condition according to the age of the child. The frequency of such problematic behaviors is the outbreak of three characteristics of a CD in a year at its minimum, out of which one of them is exhibited on past six months. The characteristics of CD are:

• Lying
• Stealing
• Fighting
• Hurting physically
• Destroying belongings of others
• Absenteeism (leaving the home)

So, do not panic with such behaviors nor mistreat or hit your child, but handle them with care. Remember, that is the behavior that you need to remove, not the child from your heart and mind.

According to the National Mental Health Association in the U.S., CD is found to affect 6 percent of the children approximately and that it occurs more in boys as compared with the girls. Considering ADHD with CD, according to a report by the U.K. government, approximately 5 percent of children who lie within the age group of 5-15 had CD, out of which 1 percent were suffering from ADHD too. Among people suffering from ADHD, women are 40 times more prone to conduct disorder. Actually, there is no backing of proof that explains why victims of ADHD are more vulnerable to conduct disorder. It could be mental chemical imbalance, genetic conditions, and family and social pressures.

Conduct Disorder Types

The conduct disorder is categorized based on the two factors namely, the time at which such behaviors are revealed and the degree of intensity. Based on the time of exhibiting such problematic behaviors, CD is classified into the following two types.

• Early Stage
  Here, the child reveals one characteristic before he/she is 10; which is linked with ADHD.
• Adolescent Stage
  Here, the characteristics are revealed at the age of 10 and above. This is common and might accompany ADHD.

Based on a study done by McCabe, it is believed that children with ADHD are more prone to early stage of conduct disorder as compared to those without ADHD.

The degree of severity of CD indicates how many problems your child is facing and what is the depth level of their effects. According to the intensity levels, there are three types of CD. Listed below are the three types.

• Mild
  Indicates a few behavior problems that results in harming others at minimum.
• Moderate
  Indicates more behavior problems than the mild one that results in harming others moderately.
• Severe
  Indicates a lot of behavior problems that results in harming considerably.

Conduct Disorder Causes

The British Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapies believes that there is no certain cause that leads to conduct disorder. But, there are many factors, whose union can lead to conduct disorder. Here is the list of those factors.

• Child’s temperament
• Genetic conditions, wherein a parent who had a conduct disorder in his/her childhood is more likely to have a child with CD.
• Physical problems in tackling/understanding social information
• Brain damage
• Family problems
• Social elements such as deprived by friends
• Harsh parenting

Conduct Disorder Symptoms

Listed below are the symptoms of conduct disorder.

• Bullies or frightens others
• Fights physically
• Uses weapons such as knife or bat to beat others
• Behaves cruelly with others and animals
• Steals
• Engages intentionally in destroying property or belongings of others (fire-setting too)
• Engages in forgery
• Breaks into others’ homes and buildings
• Is mostly out of the home before 13 even though parents object to do so
• Is absent in the school before the age of 13

Problems Due to CD

The main obstacle caused due to conduct disorder is the high probability of distrust that children can show in adults, which makes it difficult for them to undergo treatments such as behavior therapy. Apart from this, there are more problems caused due to CD, which are as follows:

• Socially
  Outbreak of anger and defiance is common. Overreacting to situations, behaving awkwardly, and having marital problems at adulthood are a few problems to name.
• At School or Office
  Breaking rules that might prevent him/her to sit in examinations and can lead to the dismissal.
• Legally
  Antisocial behavior can make your child appear in the court.

Conduct Disorder Treatment

According to the symptoms and their severity, the psychotherapist or other appropriate health experts might suggest a suitable treatment. Listed below are a few of the common treatments.

• Behavior therapy that might involve rehearsal and practice
• Psychotherapy specifically for controlling temper
• Educational help to overcome reading, writing, and learning disabilities
• Counseling of parents
• Medication

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