Conduct Disorder in Kids

Conduct disorder is symptomatic of deeper disagreements that your child might have with his surroundings. If aggression and depression persist, seek psychiatric help and make life style changes

Conduct Disorder is one of the worst forms of psychiatric conditions that can afflict your child. The major concern respecting this disorder is that it is really hard to detect.

Symptoms appear early

From an early age, children display emotions of aggression. For example, what happens when you playfully take away the favourite toy of your pre-schooler? Does your child become violent? They may not like what you have done. Nevertheless, this can easily pass of as a normal human tendency or reaction.

However, what happens when this belligerent behaviour goes beyond the realm of isolated or sporadic incidents and is deliberate in nature? Often you find that your child has bullied or has hurt some kid. They are aggressive towards both humans and animals. Rules and regulations hardly are effective to control their aggressive mood. Even the school authorities constantly call you up to complain about their disruptive behaviour in school.

May spiral out of control

You have observed the aforementioned pattern emerge over a period of time. Their frequency increases and there are no signs of abatement. What does all this point to? You child is displaying all the signs of Conduct Disorder.Once this disorder is diagnosed, act swiftly to manage it.

The following are some ways you can adopt to deal with this situation:

• Risk Categories – Identify the high risk categories of this disorder and remove them from your house. One should know the root cause behind Conduct Disorder. There are no definitive factors that cause this disorder. It can be the outcome of genetic, environmental, social conditioning of your child. However, children who have to deal with depression, frustration, and neglect fall under the high risk category. Harsh treatment by parents, abuse, violence and household stress creates an aggressive tendency from an early age.As parents, try to build a positive environment. If there are any problems, no matter what, they should never reach your child and disturb them.

• Early Detection – Try to identify this problem at its early stages. It is rather an impossible task to detect this problem at its early stages due to umpteen reasons. However, if you keenly observe the activities of your child, you would get an early insight into this malady. This will greatly help you, your family, and your child’s teachers to engage with your child in a productive way and to guide them into normalcy.

• Role of the School – School plays an important role in helping you deal with this problem. Normally schools wouldn’t want such a student in their midst. But good schools will help you to manage the situation in an effective manner when you inform and discuss this problem with them. This is crucial since your child has to spend 6-8 hours of their day in school.

Holistic Changes

There should not be any provocation on the part of the family or you. Foster a kind, loving and most importantly, patient environment. If you want your child to calm down, set an example.

• Positive Environment – A positive environment at home helps your child to come out of this malady. Ensure that your child is not subjected to any kind of abuse or neglect at home and away. Maintain peace and tranquillity at home. Do not encourage your child to watch or read violent content. Appreciate their efforts and achievements. Boost their self-esteem.

• Engage – Don’t neglect your child and engage them in positive activities. Engage your child in productive activities instead of letting them fritter away their time. Spend more time with them. Actively take part in the things they like to do. Get them to take part in extracurricular activities, hobbies, games, or even household chores. Tell them stories about successful personalities who have overcome adverse conditions in their childhood.

• Family Responsibility – The role of the family is important in dealing with this condition. If both parents are working, one of you will have to sacrifice or balance your career ambitions in favour of your child’s well being. Also, this is necessary as children suffering from this disorder need continuous support and love, which only parents can provide. 

• Multiple Approach – A multiple approach is the best way to tackle Conduct Disorder. Not much research has gone into the investigation and prognosis of this disorder. A approach is usually advisable. A combination of medicines, psychiatric help, and behavioural therapy is often used to treat children having this problem.