Do you knw anyone with o.d.d.?

Question

My soon to be 6 year old was just diagnosed with o.d.d.(oppositional defiance disorder)

Does anyone have a child like this and if so, how did your child turn out? My son is going on 6 and acts like 3...

Answer 1

My 15 year old daughter had it, she is now 30 and suffers from major depression with signs of bi-polar also. We would say no and she would say yes or vice versa. She was a real treat to live with, had several hospitalizations after going "off" on us or acting out by running away or shutting herself off from the rest of the family. We called it her "imaginary wall" and you couldn't knock it down with a bulldozer. We tried therapy, hospitalizations and medicine eventually, but as she got older in her mind we were to blame and she was fine. Naturally we tried to keep her on her meds, but again we had the problem not her. This is usually a life long condition, but medication does help if you can keep them on it. They out grow the O.D.D.,but other mental illnesses may follow like my daughters, You MUST be on the same wave length as your spouse and fight this together, when your child sees you are together on this subject they will then realize they are not winning the battle. Good luck and God Bless you WILL need it. Please don't get me wrong, I love my daughter and my love is unconditional and I will be by her side through it all.

Answer 2

A a special education teacher, I have known many teenagers with ODD.  This is the time to intervene...if you haven't already, you should try to find a therapist who has experience with children with ODD and the entire family needs to be involved in the process.  A majority of the students that I have known with ODD have not ended up anywhere good...suicide, addiction, prison, etc..  The few that I have known that went on to be successful had parents who took their diagnosis seriously from the start.  Not trying to sound gloomy, but it is a disorder that can and will have very serious implications on a child's life without early and consistent intervention.