What is the difference between Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder?

Oppositional defiance disorder is a recurrent pattern of negative, defiant, rebellious, and antagonistic behavior toward authority figures. Conduct disorder is a persistent antisocial behavior pattern where the individual repeatedly breaks social rules and carries out violent acts. The severity of the conduct disorder clinical features is much higher than in oppositional defiant disorder.

Oppositional defiant disorder is defined as a recurrent pattern of hostile behavior. This disorder is a common childhood syndrome; however, most children do not progress to the advanced stage with debilitating psychiatric symptoms. It is crucial to maintain an eye on the child’s mental health.

If the child quickly becomes nasty and argues aggressively with adults, is easily irritated or even spiteful and vindictive, they could be suffering from the oppositional defiant disorder. Conduct disorder is defined as a persistent antisocial behavior pattern where the person consistently breaks social rules. This behavior could be anything from stealing a candy bar or destruction of property. The behavioral changes may also affect the person’s social functioning and even their occupational functioning.

Conduct Disorder simply refers to a group of emotional and behavioral problems in which a child finds it difficult to follow rules and behave in a way that is not acceptable in the society. Children with this kind of disorder do not care about the feelings of others, and they tend to be hard to control. People with a conduct behavior are usually with repetitive behaviours. They are known for their aggression towards animals and other people around them. They are also known for violation of rules, destruction of property, etc. Children with a conduct disorder can also suffer other types of conditions such as anxiety, mood disorders, learning problems, substance abuse, etc. Oppositional Defiant Disorder is also a group of behavioural problems characterised by a continuous pattern of hostile behavior, and angered-controlled disobedience towards authority. Behavioral problems that are related to this are usually classified as ODD if they persist for at least six months. Individuals with ODD usually exhibit the following behaviors: not wanting to comply the request of older people, arguing with older people, losing temper, intentionally doing things to upset other people.

Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder are two types of disorders that are classified under Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders. These two types of conditions occur as disruptive behaviors in adolescents and children. Conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder might look similar but can be differentiated by comparing the diagnostic criteria of the two disorders. Conduct disorder has diagnostic criteria such as deceitfulness, aggression, serious violations of people’s rights. On the contrary, the oppositional defiant disorder has diagnostic criteria such as vindictiveness, irritable mood, and other defiant behaviors. Although both disorders are often characterized by physical violence, this problem is more pronounced in conduct disorder than in oppositional defiant disorder. The duration of the symptoms of the two disorders is another difference between the two. In conduct disorder, the symptoms can last for at least a year. On the contrary, the symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder can last for at least six months.

When you say ODD, this means that the child will always have oppositional behavior to adults. This means that even if the child is being told something that is correct, he/she would always show that he/she is opposed to what is being said. The person may easily become annoyed when this happens. There is also a tendency for other people to become irritated whenever there are things that are being opposed. People who have conduct disorders will just have the natural tendency to not follow the rules that were given. Instead of just following the rules, they may sometimes go out of their way to not follow what has been given to them.

There are some behavioral problems in children that would need to be diagnosed soon so that proper treatments can be done in order to improve their present condition. When you say Oppositional Defiant Disorder, this means that the person who is experiencing this will have the tendency to always be defiant towards any figure of authority. The person may sometimes lose his temper and will also be annoyed very easily by other people.

This can cause some issues because the person will always try to argue with other people to the point that it will already be unhealthy. Conduct Disorder, on the other hand, is a type of condition wherein the person will usually violate the various rules that have been given. The person may also fight with other people constantly and will normally be more aggressive when they want to break serious rules.