Childhood Behavior Disorders: Are They a Reflection of a Disordered Society?

Abstract

Oppositional defiant disorder is one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses in childhood. This hermeneutic research study explores the cultural, historical, and psychological phenomena contributing to contemporary childhood and related disorders, specifically oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD). Accurate diagnosis and treatment of ODD and CD has significant relevance to clinicians working with children, teens, and family systems. This study focuses on developments in Western society including; education and technology, post-war, historical events prior to the identification of ODD as a diagnosis, and definitions of the childhood construct. Complications of studying this diagnosis within the precept childhood benefit from utilizing Van den Berg’s (1961) Metabletics. Multiple perspectives are reviewed, including neurological, physiological, anthropological, and biopsychosocial. Western history of contemporary childhood and adolescence, concepts of the nuclear family, and the history of post WWII American society, including general relationship between conduct disorders and American society are reviewed. Cultural understandings of conduct, conduct disorders, and clinical treatment are discussed. This study will inform clinical implications of a contextual cultural understanding of conduct disorders and a discussion of diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and treatment of childhood behavior disorders. The goal of this study is to improve understanding of behavior disorders, particularly ODD and CD, to improve diagnostic accuracy, expand treatment options, and reduce stigma. Various factors in the development of behavior disorders validate this paper’s conclusion that a multifaceted understanding of childhood and adolescent behaviors must occur before diagnoses are made and treatment begins.