CONDUCT DISORDER

By ishba shoukat
 Introduction

 "Conduct disorder" refers to a group

of behavioral and emotional
problems in youngsters. Children
and adolescents with this disorder
have great difficulty following rules
and behaving in a socially
acceptable way. They are often
viewed by other children, adults and
social agencies as "bad" or
delinquent, rather than mentally ill
 Conduct disorder (CD) is a mental health
condition that involves a persistent
pattern of aggressive and antisocial
behavior that violates rules and social
norms:
 Criteria according to DSM5;
• Aggression to people and animals
 • bullies, threatens or intimidates others
 • often initiates physical fights
 • has used a weapon that could cause
serious physical harm to others (e.g. a
bat, brick, broken bottle, knife or gun)
 • is physically cruel to people or animals
 • steals from a victim while confronting
them (e.g. assault)
 • forces someone into sexual activity
 Destruction of Property
 • deliberately engaged in fire setting with the
intention to cause damage
 • deliberately destroys other's property
 Deceitfulness, lying, or stealing
 • has broken into someone else's building,
house, or car
 • lies to obtain goods, or favors or to avoid
obligations
 • steals items without confronting a victim (e.g.
shoplifting, but without breaking and entering)
 Serious violations of rules
 • often stays out at night despite
parental objections
 • runs away from home
 • often truant from school
 Conduct disorder is a behavioral disorder
that can be categorized into three types
based on when symptoms first appear:
 Childhood onset: Symptoms begin
before age 10
 Adolescent onset: Symptoms begin
during the teenage years
 Unspecified onset: The age at which
symptoms first appear is unknown
 Causes
 Genetic/biological factors:
 Various studies show that certain
characteristics of CD can be inherited,
including antisocial behavior, impulsivity,
temperament, aggression and insensitivity
to punishment.
 High testosterone levels are associated
with aggression.
 Traumatic brain injury, seizures and
neurological damage can contribute to
aggression.
 Parental, familial and
environmental factors
:
 Parents of adolescents with CD often have engaged in
substance use and antisocial behaviors. They’re also frequently
diagnosed with ADHD, mood disorders, schizophrenia or
antisocial personality disorder.
 A home environment that lacks structure and adequate
supervision with frequent conflicts between parents can lead to
maladaptive behavior in children, which can lead to CD.
 Children exposed to frequent domestic violence are more likely
to develop CD.
 Living in low social and economic environments with
overcrowding and unemployment leads to economic and social
stress with a lack of adequate parenting. CD affects more
children living in low economic environments than not.
 Availability of drugs and increased crime in a child’s
neighborhood increases their risk of developing CD.
 Signs of conduct disorder in adults
 Adults who have conduct disorder may
have difficulty keeping a job or
maintaining relationships. They may be
prone to illegal or dangerous behavior.
 Symptoms of conduct disorder in an adult
may be diagnosed as
antisocial personality disorder.
 Management and Treatment

 Go-to treatment for conduct disorder (CD)

is multiple forms of psychotherapy (talk
therapy) for your child and family, as well
as community-based treatment.
 Therapies include:
 Parent management
training: The goal of this therapy is to
train the child’s parents to set consistent
discipline with proper rewarding of
positive behaviors.
 Anger management
training:
 : The goal of anger management is to
reduce both your child’s emotional
feelings and the physiological arousal
that anger causes. You can’t get rid of or
totally avoid the things or people that
make them angry, so anger management
training teaches your child how to control
their reactions.
 Individual psychotherapy
 such as cognitive behavioral therapy
: Individual therapy for a child with
conduct disorder focuses on developing
problem-solving skills, strengthening
relationships by resolving conflicts and
learning skills to decline negative
influences in their environment.
 Community-based
treatment:
 Community-based treatment: This
treatment involves therapeutic schools
and residential treatment centers that
can provide a structured program to
reduce disruptive behaviors.
 Multisystematic therapy
 Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
 - MST is an intensive, community-based
intervention that targets multiple aspects
of a child’s life, including family
dynamics, peer relationships, school
performance, and community
involvement.
 - It emphasizes home- and community-
based interventions that are tailored to
the individual child’s needs.
 Pharmacological
 Used in combination with other
treatments
 Treat specific symptoms;
 Stimulants(aggression)
 Anti-convulsants(temper out brusts)
 Lithium(aggression)
 Clonidine(over-arousal)
 Neuroleptics and atypical anti psychotics
 Prognosis
 The prognosis (outlook) for conduct disorder
depends on how early the condition developed
and if it was treated.
 Usually, the disruptive behaviors of conduct
stop during early adulthood, but in about one-
third of cases, they continue. Many of these
cases meet the criteria for antisocial
personality disorder.
 Early onset of the condition (before 10 years
of age) is associated with a poorer prognosis
and is strongly associated with a significant
decline in school performance.
 Comorbidity
 Mood or anxiety disorders.
 Somatic symptom disorder.
 Alcohol use disorder and/or substance
use disorder.
 Early adult-onset psychotic disorders
 how do I take care of my child with conduct
disorder?
 If your child has conduct disorder, aside from
getting them professional care, you can help them
and yourself in the following ways:
 Learn more about conduct disorder, including
recent research on effective treatment
approaches.
 Talk to a mental health professional, preferably
one who’s trained in diagnosing and treating
conduct disorder.
 Explore the treatment options available.
Treatment must be individualized to meet the
needs of your child and should be family-centered.
 Find a family support group or organization in your
community.
 References
 https://
www.insightpsychological.ca/counselling/
conduct-disorder
 https://
my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23
924-conduct-disorder
 https://
www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditio
ns-and-diseases/conduct-disorder
 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC
6345126
/
 THANK YOU