ODD

And I am not talking about the odd as in weird. "Oppositional Defiant Disorder is a childhood disorder that is characterized by negative, defiant, disobedient and often hostile behavior toward adults and authority figures primarily".

"Negativistic and defiant behaviors are expressed by persistent stubbornness, resistance to directions, and unwillingness to compromise, give in, or negotiate with adults or peers. Defiance may also include deliberate or persistent testing of limits, usually by ignoring orders, arguing, and failing to accept blame for misdeeds"

Oh yeah we have one of those. Some days are better than others, usually when there is a reward or something involved that she chooses or if she is getting a lot of 1:1 special attention (which you also have to answer a barrage of, "Am I being good right now?" questions every 5 minutes these usually indicate that she wants you to buy her something or take her to another "fun" place, also of her choosing), but most days straight out of bed it's back talk, doing the opposite, or straight up refusing to follow the rules... over and over and over again. It's challenging... could be worse, wayyy worse, but it's frustrating nontheless and not something that we expected or were warned about. It's funny how after you start mentioning these things, psych evaluations previously completed suddenly mention,"Oh yeah we questioned if she had that."


The other day we discussed why she is so contrary at home but good outside the home (usually). She didn't have much of an answer other than just "because". In my opinion,it's more likely because she has textbook symptoms. "Manifestations of the disorder are almost invariably present in the home setting, but may not be evident at school or in the community."

I agree in the community activities that she attends and at school she had NO behavior issues! Yup... could be worse :-)




And that concludes today's lesson in childhood abnormal psychology.