9781422272367

Parents and even professionals sometimes have difficulty determining whether a child’s behavior is just acting out or whether it is a true disorder.

A child who loses his or her temper often, is touchy or easily annoyed, or regularly seems angry and resentful would fall into the category of angry/irritable mood. Argumentative or defiant behavior would be seen in someone who argues with authority figures or adults, actively defies rules or refuses to comply with orders from authority figures, deliberately annoys other people, or blames others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior. According to the DSM-5, someone who has been spiteful or has shown a strong and unreasonable desire for revenge at least twice during the previous six-month period would be considered vindictive. Children with oppositional defiant disorder often express their disorder in one of these three categories. For example, one child may be angry and irritable, while another may predominantly exhibit vindictiveness towards classmates. Both children can have ODD, so the DSM-5 subtypes allow for individual differences. A person’s

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Introduction to Disruptive Disorders

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