An ODD Diagnosis Doesn ’t Make Your Child “Bad”

In recent years, I’ve encountered a growing number of parents in my therapy practice who come to me fearing that their child has oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). According to the American Psychiatric Association, the primary signs of ODD are angry and irritable mood, argumentative and defiant behavior, and vindictiveness. Often these parents will share that a teacher or doctor told them their child may have ODD, and that when they looked up the condition online, they recognized some of the symptoms in their child’s behavior. As a parent myself, the worry and confusion on my clients’ faces and, in their voices, simply breaks my heart. One unintended effect of putting the ODD label on a child, in my experience, is that it makes parents feel like something is intrinsically wrong with their child — and wrong with them as parents. The ODD diagnosis can also cloud the process of figuring out why a child is struggling and how to best address their behavioral issues. And parents aren’t the only ones who feel bad when their child is diagnosed with ODD. Kids feel bad, too. With this in mind, I’ve developed my own approach for helping families overcome their fear of the ODD Boogeyman.  The first step is taking the sting out of the label. So, someone thinks your kid has ODD. That’s okay. No matter what anyone says, even someone with a certain level of expertise, your kid is not a bad kid. In my 20 years of practice, I have never met a bad kid. The truth is that mo...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Agitation Children and Teens Parenting Stigma Students Child Development difficult child Oppositional Defiant Disorder Source Type: blogs