Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) Support Group
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) an ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile, and defiant behavior toward authority figures that goes beyond the bounds of normal childhood behavior. When a child cannot seem to control his anger or frustration, even over what seems to be trivial or simple to others, the child will often react in violent or negative ways to his own...
Hi there. I am looking for advise as I am trying to figure exactly what is behind all of the behavior issues my daughter is having. She is 9 years old. She has been in therapy for 2+ years and does not seem to be getting better with behavioral strategies. She has a lot of underlying anxiety and some undiagnosed learning disabilities (we think). She has been having severe behavior outbursts for 2 years which have been getting worse in recent months and terrible since the begining of quarentine. This ONLY occurs at home with us. She is a model student and does very well with her peers.
She was cycling about 1x/week prior to quarentine but now her outbursts are occurring every 3-4 days. She can be in the best mood and all of a sudden she falls apart with tantruming, biting, hitting, kicking, threats and verbal abuse to both her father and I. This can last 3-4 hours. It is exhausting! We have asked her therapist and pediatrician if they thought this could be ODD and they don't seem to think so. I have requested medication for anxiety from her pediatrician but he doesn't believe in medicating children unless it is absolutely necessary. We are in the works to have neuropsych testing completed to determine if there is a learning disability and its impact on her anxiety. We would also like to see a psychiatrist or behavioral psychologist to get a diagnosis but are feeling very stuck right now without being able to meet with anyone in person. With the research we are doing it seems to fit with this diagnosis. Wondering if any of you have any insight as to how to get a better sense of whether this could be ODD and how the best route for getting her diagnosed and treated. And of course how you are dealing with it. I am struggling!!
It is important to look after your own mental health,being in a potential warzone,never really knowing when the landmine is going to explode is so damaging to your own well being
I hope you have a strong support system around you.A place you can take a break and be pampered
Its so easy to forget about yourself while struggling with somone elses behaviour and the impact it has on your home and life
But its vitally important
My son had indicators for ADHD and DMDD (similar to ODD) on his first np 4 years ago, and when we refreshed it this year.
It has been a bumpy road for us, with understanding something we had never heard of, learning that it is a disorder that affects his ability to make decisions and to regulate himself (vs making 'bad choices', which is something we hear a lot of people talk about), some entanglement with the legal system related to his condition, and ongoing struggle for support from the school system.
Self-care as GrassisGreen describes it is vital. For us, support groups, such as NAMI, DMH, the Department of Children and Family, and Youth Villages have all enabled us to make what progress was possible, while learning how to sustain ourselves across the struggle.
For us, the neuropsych also led to a medicinal course that has given our son a floor of stability upon which he has been able to build skills to manage his condition. It is far from perfect -- there have been regressions and there are side effects -- but without that floor of stability we would still be visiting him in a hospital.
Good luck with your journey.