The Mental Emotional Health Blog

Conduct Disorder is an interesting diagnosis for those of us that work with children and adolescents. Within the field of mental health, I have heard Conduct Disorder referred to as “the toughest diagnosis to work with for kids”, and “it’s just a catch-all diagnosis for misbehaving teens”. That’s quite a range. I am glad to be able to say the majority of colleagues I work with and worked with in the past emphasize the person over the diagnosis.

Destruction, aggressive speech and actions, frequent dishonesty, indifference to discipline, and breaking rules or laws are typical characteristics. As a clinician, I think the defining characteristic is lack of empathy and remorse. Most kids and teens get into a little trouble, or are defiant at some point. Those with Conduct Disorder go beyond isolated incidents and do these things often, and often ignore or minimize the emotional (or physical) pain caused to others.

When I work with kids and teens who have been diagnosed with Conduct Disorder, I try to speak in a matter-of-fact manner. I do that in order to remove my emotions from the conversation, since those that meet criteria of Conduct Disorder often tend to feed off of others’ feelings despite seeming to not care about them.

WebMD has a good summary of this difficult condition. Here is a link to info on Conduct Disorder at WebMD .