Rebel with a Cause: Meet Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)

The difficulty in to obey rules and being told “no” took Mateus, 10, to a psychiatrist’s office. After tests and psychological evaluations, the diagnosis came: the boy suffered from oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)also known as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)🇧🇷

As the name suggests, it is characterized by continual disobedience to authority figures such as parents and teachers, outbursts of rageattempts to irritate the others and blame them for your mistakes, behavior antisocial and impulsivity🇧🇷

Symptoms usually begin between ages 6 and 8 and cause problems at home or at school. Matthew’s mother can say so. “He doesn’t accept the word ‘no’. So we learn to go dribbling that. Instead of saying ‘Let’s not do it like this’, I say ‘Let’s do it like this’”, says zootechnician Tais Lins, from São Paulo.

With weekly sessions of therapy and monitoring of psychiatrist, the boy’s condition improved. But it was not always so. At the age of 4, before the diagnosis, Mateus threw a piece of wood at the head of a colleague, who was injured. Result: he was asked to withdraw from the kindergarten he attended.

The causes of ODD are still unknown🇧🇷 However, like all psychiatric disorders, it involves a combination of factors. genetic and environmental🇧🇷 “Various genes interact with each other, creating conditions for environmental factors to potentiate the disease or not”, explains geneticist Ciro Marinhago, from São Paulo.

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In general, the DOT comes associate to disorder of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)🇧🇷 Abuse of alcohol and other drugs in the family, presence of mood disorders – such as depression and bipolarity -, smoking during pregnancy and complications in childbirth can contribute to initiate the disturbance.

Imaging studies suggest that children with ODD have differences subtle in the region of brain responsible for reasoning, judgment and impulse control. They can also present difficulty in accurately identifying and interpreting other people’s signals – “reading”, for example, hostile intentions in neutral situations.

Treatment usually involves individual and family therapy🇧🇷 In more serious cases, it is possible to resort to medication🇧🇷 In sessions with the psychologist, children and adolescents learn to to manage their anger and develop new ways of dealing with stressful situations. Therapy also helps parents apply techniques to to intervene in times of crisis.

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, in three years symptoms decrease in approximately 67% of children.

However, if left untreated, ODD can trigger the conduct disorder, characterized by the violation of social norms or individual rights – when the person commits theft, vandalism and cruelty to animals, for example. In adult life, in extreme cases, there is a risk of antisocial personality disorder🇧🇷

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DIAGNOSIS REQUIRES COMPLETE INVESTIGATION

THE identification of the frame is complex🇧🇷 “All of us can show some of the traits from time to time, such as impulsiveness. But, in the case of those with the disorder, these characteristics appear together, in a intensity and with a frequency that seriously compromise the patient’s life”, says psychiatrist Paulo Mattos, professor at the Institute of Psychiatry at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

“Everyone has blood sugar, but some have too much sugar, which causes diabetes”, he compares. Thus, the diagnosis requires a broad evaluationwhich takes into account school, family and other contexts.

“It’s no use doing a 15-minute interview with the family. Gather as much information as possible it helps the professional to understand how the symptoms affect the child’s life and if they are really excessive”, says Mattos.

It is important to remember that defying and disobeying adults at times it’s part normal of the development of children and adolescents. Tantrums can happen, especially when they are tired, hungry or upset.

At these times, the classic orientation of “set limits🇧🇷 It’s hard but fundamental to raise healthy and independent children.