Understanding Conduct Disorder
Conduct Disorder (CD) – What is it?
Conduct Disorder is a condition of childhood and adolescence that causes severe and serious disruption in behaviour. It is the most challenging and difficult of all behavioural and emotional disturbances of children and teenagers. Conduct Disorders are exceptionally difficult to manage and equally difficult to treat. People with Conduct Disorders create huge problems in school, family and community. The difficulties caused by teenagers with Conduct Disorder create havoc in communities and a significant proportion of young people incarcerated for criminal offenses have a conduct disorder.
Children and adolescents with this disorder have great difficulty following rules and behaving in a socially acceptable way. They are often viewed by other children, adults and social agencies as “bad” or delinquent, rather than mentally ill. Many factors may contribute to a child developing conduct disorder, including brain damage, child abuse, genetic vulnerability, school failure, and traumatic life experiences.
Children and teens with conduct disorder often display some, or all, of the following behaviours:
- Harming people or animals
- Bullying, threatening or intimidating others
- Causing fights
- Using a weapon that can cause physical harm to others
- Tortures, physically harms or hurts animals or people
- Confronts people and robs them
- Forces someone into sexual activity
- Destroys Property
- Starts fires deliberation with the intent to cause damage
- Deliberately destroying other peoples property
- Being deceitful, lying, or stealing
- Breaks into someone’s house or car
- Lying to obtain goods or favours or to avoid obligations
- Stealing without confronting the victim
- Serious violations of rules
- Staying out all night despite parental objections
- Running away from home
- Truant from school often
What Causes Conduct Disorder?
There is no definitive answer to this question just yet. Research indicates a variety of factors that influence the development of the condition. These range from genetic and biological, brain related factors to social-economic factors. It is known that about 30-50% of people diagnoses with the condition also have rather severe ADHD. Factors such as being reared in an institution, being fostered to numerous families, harsh and severe parental discipline, living in socially disadvantaged and violent communities all play a role in the development of the problem.
Children and teenagers with CD often have co-existing conditions such as ADHD, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), Mood Disorders, anxiety, substance abuse, or learning difficulties). For these reasons a comprehensive assessment is always important. If co-existing conditions are discovered they must all be treated effectively and this makes successful outcomes even more problematic.
Treatment is terribly problematic because of the complexity of the problem. A contributing factor in the difficulty in treating the condition is the child or teen’s deep-seated distrust of adults. This distrust causes them to be less than truthful and forthcoming about their behaviours, thoughts and moods. Typically these children and teens are uncooperative with treatment and all adults trying to help them.
The prevalence of conduct disorders in people under the age of 17 is about 1 to 4%. Estimate vary widely and some suggest that up to 16% of boys have the condition while only up to 9% of girls have it. Whatever the prevalence or causes Conduct Disorder is an extremely difficult condition and the costs to society are high in terms of crime rates, violence and incarceration of offenders.
David J. Carey, Psy.D.
297 Beechwood Court
Stillorgan
Dublin, Ireland
http://www.davidjcarey.com