[beth]

My friend's daughter has been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. However I really question whether this is an actual disorder or whether its another "bag" term used by psychiatrists to justify medicating children and teenagers. This particular teen falls into the criteria, but her target "oppositional person" is her mother, and she can turn the behavior on and off as required. This says to me that this is not a disorder, but a problem between mother and daughter which needs to be resolved by constructive talk and not by the drugs the girl's doctor has placed her on. Does anyone have experience of this "disorder"?

[babydawn]

I don't know about ODD, but my brother was diagnosed with a similar disorder, Intermitant Explosive Disorder. When my mom first told me about it I thought come on now, isn't that just giving him a break for not being able to control his temper? But then she told me how they came up with the diagnosis. They has to do a CT scan. With Intermitant Explosive Disorder, it shows up on the CT scan. There is something different about the brain and the way it has been developed. I learned in a psychology class that schizophrenia is pretty much the same. I remember them showing pictures of two brains, a healty one and one with schizophrenia. They are as much a physical disorder as is a mental one like they are classified. I understand the concern for a lot of parents to feel like the doctors are "masking" undiciplined children, or difiant children, and think that the doctors are giving these children an excuse for their poor behavior, however, I do not think that these diagnoses came just ramdomly. I believe the medical field does a lot of research and they go with what has been proven to work. Even if ODD is like depression, and is a chemical imbalance that you can not do testing for, this gal SHOULD respond to medication if she REALLY has it. If the medication does little or no good, she may have been misdiagnosed. As with all mental disorders, I am sure that the medication will take 2-4 weeks before seeing any results. I always feel like psychiatrists get such a bad rap. I believe if you find a GOOD one, there should be no problems in voicing these concerns and having him take them into consideration. I do not believe all pyschiatrists are out just to medicate american kids.

[Guthswife]

My nephew actually has ODD and from what you described that isn't it. He just doesn't care and shuts off. You can look at him and just see darkness in his eyes that he just isn't there and then an hour or so later he is the kindest little kid with a motive though. What you described sounds like me and my mom about 20 years ago. He also has something they call RAD too. I don't know how they can say exactly what part of him is each of these things, but it sucks if there are people that just slap that name to everyone under the sun. It makes it more difficult if those that have it are classed with just a pissed off teen.