Introduction
Child counseling is concerned with assisting children in making sense of what is going on in their minds, bodies, and lives in a way that they can comprehend. Many of the issues these children confront are similar to those that adults face on a daily basis. The purpose of child therapy, on the other hand, is to break difficulties down into manageable chunks so that children may better comprehend and cope with them. Working with children, particularly those with diagnoses such as Oppositional Defiant Disease, may be difficult, requiring the counselor to comprehend all facets of the disorder as well as the most successful approaches for working with children.
Characteristics of Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Oppositional defiant disorder is a social condition when a child has overt tendencies that have persisted for at least six months. At least one of the following behaviors will be displayed by a child with this disorder: loss of control, repeated temper tantrums, animosity, refusal to follow the rules, agitating others, blaming others, hatred, resentment, visits, and repeated noncompliance with guardians, parental figures, and educators. The behavior of a child diagnosed with this illness illustrates risky, rebellious, and defiant behaviors directed against adults or other power figures and manifested by agitated and fractious dispositions in addition to aggressive and damaging behaviors (Willis, 2018). While all children may display some defiance during their formative years, ODD patients will exhibit such behaviors more frequently than those who do not have ODD. These youngsters do not simply do things to provoke conflict or to annoy others around them; they also frequently accuse others of doing things.
The symptoms of this disorder have to appear for at least six months and the interactions where these symptoms are observed have to include children that are not siblings. These symptoms are not applicable in sibling interactions. In seven of the eight symptom classifications, the phrase ‘often’ emphasizes the likelihood of the symptoms occurring in children. Children with oppositional defiant disorder experience symptoms such as losing their temper, quickly being irritated or touchy, and resentful or angry. When discussing the sixth-month rule for defiant disorder, a distinction is made when the child is 5. Dr Grande states that if a child is under age 5 (Geldard et al., 2019), the symptoms must appear most days within six months for them to be diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder. The child can be diagnosed with ODD when their behavior of disobeying, arguing, or talking back to adults goes beyond what is considered usual for the child’s age and lasts more than six months.
Diagnosing Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Children with ODD face a higher risk of other mental health diagnoses. It appears as a pattern of persistently impolite, pessimistic, belligerent, and rebellious behavior toward authority officials. However, it might be challenging to distinguish normatively appropriate but harmful behavior at first. The DSM-5 measures for the diagnosis of an ODD show an example of behavior that includes at least four manifestations from any of these classifications — irrational and peevish temperament; pugnacious and defiant conduct; or perniciousness; occurs with any event one person who isn’t kin; causes significant problems at work, school, or home; occurs all alone; as opposed to being a significant part of the progression of another psychological well-being issue.
DSM-5 measures for the conclusion of ODD incorporate both enthusiastic and conduct indications and include an irate and perverse state of mind, regularly losing temper, frequently tricky or effortlessly irritated by others, and frequently furious and angry. Factious and defiant conduct: regularly contends with grown-ups or individuals in power, frequently effectively resists or won’t consent to grown-ups’ solicitations or rules, regularly purposely bothers individuals, and frequently criticizes others for their mix-ups or troublemaking (Henderson & Thompson, 2015). Perniciousness: is frequently angry or noxious and has demonstrated resentful or malicious conduct twice in the previous half-year.
Therapeutic Techniques in Counseling Children With ODD
Anger management therapy is one of the therapeutic techniques that may be beneficial in the treatment of ODD. Children who struggle with emotional regulation are also prone to losing control of their rage (Geldard et al., 2019). Relaxation methods, goal planning, effective problem solving, identifying triggers, and understanding consequences may all be taught via anger management. Play therapy, in particular, is a successful treatment for counseling youngsters. While ODD may affect adults, it is most typically diagnosed in youngsters. Young children may struggle to comprehend and express their feelings. Play therapy provides an alternate solution. Children can deal with their emotions, comprehend their behavior, and develop new coping strategies via playing (Henderson & Thompson,2015). Art projects, games, and toy army battles can all be used to begin counseling. The kids can be encouraged to write, draw, and talk about their experiences in different foster families, and these memories can be conveyed via many ways of presentation, such as puppet shows, plays with everyone in the room, and stories with army men. As a result of learning to recognize and understand his feelings, the child’s rage becomes more controlled.
Family counseling helps family members of an ODD child how to cope with issues and communicate more effectively. Parent-child interaction therapy is a sort of therapy that helps parents and children communicate more effectively while building good parenting skills (Daley et al., 2018). According to several research, this can help the home life of children with ODD (Geldard et al., 2019). Another strategy, known as collaborative problem solving, can assist children and parents in working together to overcome ODD-related issues.
ODD often manifests in children toward the end of preschool or the beginning of primary school. It may sometimes manifest during adolescence. A child with ODD may have periods of satisfaction and compliance with rules followed by complete collapses. Guardians of children with ODD are always alert for new situations (Daley et al., 2018). These events strain the relationships within the family. Due to their propensity for hissy fits and violence, children with ODD occasionally form lifelong friendships. Making connections requires effort, and children who are bullied and falsely accused frequently are reluctant to put in the time.
Conclusion
ODD is a serious childhood problem that the counselor must be able to properly address since it raises the chance of future drug misuse, legal challenges, relationship problems, and job problems in both adolescence and adulthood. It can disrupt school activities, cause chronic family tension, and make children with ODD feel confused, irritated, and furious. ODD can be effectively treated with the appropriate technique. Through a range of individual treatments, the therapist may assist people with ODD in controlling their impulses, understanding their emotions, and developing productive and meaningful relationships.
References
Barker, C., & de Lugt, J. (2022). A review of evidence based practices to support students with oppositional defiant disorder in classroom settings. International Journal of Special Education (IJSE), 37(1), 85-98. Web.
Daley, L. P., Miller, R. B., Bean, R. A., & Oka, M. (2018). Family system play therapy: An integrative approach. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 46(5), 421-436.
Geldard, K., Geldard, D., & Foo, R. Y. (2019). Counselling adolescents: The proactive approach for young people. Sage.
Henderson, D. A., & Thompson, C. L. (2015). Counseling children. Cengage Learning.
Willis, D. (2018). Malevolent nurture. In Malevolent Nurture. Cornell University Press.