• Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is a developmental disorder diagnosed in children who display extreme disobedient behavior.
• While all children may go through periods where they reject and rebel against their parents or caregiver’s commandments, Oppositionally Defiant Disordered children display a level of disobedience that is above and beyond anything that a normal child can produce, both in intensity and duration.
• A child must display a continuing pattern of extreme disobedience lasting for over six months before meriting a diagnosis of ODD. Temper tantrums, talking back to adults, failing to observe rules, provoking others, failing to take responsibility for own actions, and a high degree of irritability and general meanness are all commonly observed and acceptable signs of disobedience.
• ODD is known to be more common in homes where parents chronically fight with one another, and in homes where one or more parents has a history of conduct problems, anti-social behavior, or drug abuse.
• While parental dysfunction doesn’t directly cause ODD, it seems that it helps foster the development and maintenance of ODD symptoms in vulnerable children.
• Treatment, usually in the form of individual/child and/or family psychotherapy, is available for ODD. Parental or caregiver involvement in therapy for ODD is quite important.

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