Conduct disorder refers to behavioral and emotional problems in children and adolescents where they have difficulty following rules and behaving appropriately. It is often viewed as "bad" behavior rather than a mental illness. Many factors can contribute to conduct disorder, including brain damage, abuse, genetics, school failure, and traumatic life experiences. Children with conduct disorder often engage in aggressive behavior towards others, destroy property, lie, violate rules, and show little remorse for their actions. Early intervention is important to prevent more serious issues later in life.

1. Bad Boys? Bad Girls?Conduct disorder refers to a group of behavioral and emotional problems in youngsters. Children and adolescents with this disorder have great difficulty following the rules and behaving in a socially acceptable way. They have and are often viewed by other children, adults and social agencies as “bad” or delinquent, rather than mentally ill. Many factors may contribute to a child developing conduct disorder, including brain damage, child abuse, genetic vulnerability, school failure and traumatic life experiences. (Psychiatry, 2004)

2. What is it?The diagnosis criteria for conduct disorder (codes 312. Xx representing digits which vary upon severity, onset, etc of the disorder? As listed in the DSM –IV-TR are as follows:A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following criteria in the past 12 months, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:

3. What is it?Aggression to people and animals often bullies people, threatens, or intimidates others.Often initiates fightsHas used a weapon that can cause serious injury and or psychical harm to others a bat, brick broken bottle, knife and or gun

4. What is it?Has been psychically cruel to peopleHas been psychically cruel to animalsHas stolen while confronting a victim(e.g. extortion mugging a purse or armed robberyDestruction of property has engaged in setting fires with intent of causing serious harm and damage and has deliberately destroyed others property

5. What is it?Deceitfulness of theft and has broken into someone else’s property house, building, car often lies about it to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligationsSerious violation of rules by staying out all night despite parental prohibitions beginning before the age of 13 and has run away from home at least twice and of course truant from school The disturbance in behavior causes clinically, significant impairment in social academic or occupational functioning.

6. What can school counselors do?In the classroom the child will be labeled as a bad child. This will impede the child getting the proper help that the child needs. Many times teachers will pass on not only good information but unfortunately bad information as well. “You have (Johnny)?” “Boy, are you ever in for a bad year!” Teachers need to look at the child from a school counselors point of view and see that child as someone in need rather than someone that will live to make the teacher miserable for the next ten months. There will be challenges with the child such as those stated above.

7. What can school counselors do?Non-anti-social behavior in the classroom will benefit learning not only for the child involved but for the rest of the children in the classroom. This will enhance the learning environment and increase standardized test scores. Increased test scores will benefit the community of teachers that will look at the students in a different light. Instead of the bad seed you have a student with special needs. This is the same child and the same diagnosis in the DSM-IV however, the perception is different you see.

8. What does society think?Despite all barriers of whether the child is black or white or Hispanic or Jew living in the country or cities this can be treated. These children need to be pulled from the glue of the label of bad seed and embraced with the help afforded a special needs child. Without doing this we are doing the very premise of public education a disservice and wasting tax dollars on programs that simply do not work.

9. Conduct disorder at homeAt home the child or teen with CD will test the waters with frequency and fervor. Although it is normal for a teenager to test his or her boundaries, a child with CD goes beyond the boundaries with no regrets to his or her actions. These homes are in chaos. The relationships are strained or broken to the point that the parents no longer can or will help the child.

10. Misbehaving or conduct disorder? Often times these children become teens that are left alone enough to their own demise and destruction for lack of wanting to challenge them with anything. There are teenagers whose behavior is consistently troubling to others. In these cases the teen’s behavior is clearly outside the range of what is considered normal or acceptable. Perhaps most alarming is that many of these teenagers show little of no remorse, guilt, or understanding of the damage and the pain inflicted by their behavior. (Pruitt & AACAP, 1999)

11. What else happens?Children with CD will often times become depressed which occurs in tandem with other conditions like Attention Deficit Disorder and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. This will exacerbate all symptoms. However, at home the child will become more and more difficult to “handle

12. spirituallySpiritually the family will either develop resilience or drop into the mire of depression themselves. Does the church reach out? Children who exhibit elevated levels of conduct problems are at increased risk for developing co-occurring (Cutuli JJ, 2006) depression symptoms, especially during adolescence.

13. societySociety beckons parents with responsibility toward their children. However, this very structure limits the parent’s authority. A child that is knowledgeable in the system will know how to manipulate it to his or her advantage. For example: “Do not hit me or you will get into trouble if I tell!” Parents are either allowed to have authority over the child or the judicial authority will rule over them later in life. Society has to either take responsibility for the mentally ill up front or pay for them later on in life. Sooner or later the children that are suffering from conduct disorder will end up in our penal system.

14. retirementInformation on childhood conditions may increase our understanding of the determinants of early retirement, especially due to mental disorders. Childhood adversities should be taken into account when considering determinants of disability retirement and identifying groups at risk. (Harkonmaki K, 2007)

15. resilienceWhat makes one child successful and another one not? What makes one child more resilient than another? Is it genetics? Nature? Nurture? The environment? Resilience in children as the ability “to continue to progress in tier positive development despite being “bent,” “compressed,” or stretched by factors in a risky environment. Bernard summarizes this concept as the capacity al young people have for healthy development and successful living. (Thompson & Henderson, 2007)

16. What can school counselors do?Children with Conduct disorder and young adults have usually exhausted all ties with those that love them by their destructive and often violent behavior. The resiliency approach to understanding children provides one example of looking at the positive attributes of human beings. Identifying coping mechanisms that lead to buffers for stress helps counselors promote healthy lifestyles. (Thompson & Henderson, 2007)

17. Faith is…Faith comes from the soul and interacts with and encompasses all facets of the stages of development. Faith is not achieving greatness but, the will to get up and try again and again. You can have faith that the child will not go into the penal system and be productive. You will have faith that the child will develop a positive self-image. You will have faith that all this will happen. If there are no counselors that embrace this belief then no one will love the unlovable as they are constantly told.

18. Now what?If we allow boys to be boys then we will miss one of the major sweeps of society. The outcome can be a favorable one or unfavorable. Will we as school counselors advocate for our profession for these children or have others dictate what we can do?

19. Think about it!Conduct Disorder intervention early can prevent a sociopath later in life!http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/aap/Video/video_page.htm