-often skips school before age 13

The main thing that separates ODD from conduct disorder is the issue of danger. Oppositional defiant disorder children can be exasperating for everyone around them. They argue, they manipulative, they cause discord between parents, and they disrupt the lives of everyone around them. But these children are not dangerous. They do not harm others. With conduct disorder children, safety is a major concern. They are a threat to the body and possessions of those around them.

Even if your child has signs of Conduct Disorder, there is room for optimism. It used to be thought that conduct disorder children were just in the early stages of a life long path of criminal behavior. We know now that for most children this is not true.

Conduct Disorder children usually have multiple concurrent psychiatric problems. Most commonly these children have ADHD, but many also have bipolar disorder, depression, learning disorders, and anxiety disorder. These other disorders are the key to treatment.

Often when the other problems are addressed, the conduct disorder behavior also improves.

This is true to such an extent, that treating concurrent disorders is the major key to breaking the path of a conduct disorder child to a career criminal. Therefore, if your child does have conduct disorder, you absolutely must find out all the other problems he has and treat them aggressively. This is another reason why a good evaluation is so essential.

If you suspect your child has Conduct Disorder, you should take aggressive action. This is not the type of condition that you want to wait around and hope your child will outgrow.

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