Disruptive Behaviors: Description, Causes And Associated Disorders
One of the normal phenomena that appears within the vital development of the person, especially in childhood and adolescent stages, is the need to challenge authority. But what may initially be considered an act typical of age or circumstances can hide an altered pattern of behavior.
When these challenges to authority are accompanied by other behaviors considered antisocial, We can consider them as disruptive behaviors. Throughout this article we will analyze their characteristics as well as their possible causes and the psychological disorders to which they are associated.
Traditionally, disruptive behavior has been understood as all those actions or behaviors considered antisocial because They differ from accepted patterns of behavior and social values
Furthermore, these behaviors are perceived as a threat to the harmony, concord and peace of society and even a risk to the survival of all people. These behaviors are manifested through acts of hostility and provocation that encourage disorder and the disruption of routines and activities at both the individual and social levels.
Although these behaviors They can occur in a person of any age in an isolated and specific manner or caused by some event or situation that represents a great impact or trauma for the person, there are a series of behavioral alterations in which these behaviors make up some of the main symptoms.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), these disorders can be classified within the group of disruptive impulse control and behavior disorders which include both childhood and adolescent disorders as well as adults.
The group of behavioral disorders characteristic of children and adolescents are defined by the presence of continuous disruptive behaviors. These behaviors include all types of hostile and defiant behavior from certain minors towards any type of authority figure.
While it is common, and typical of minor development, for children to go through periods in which they try to find where they are at the limit in their negative behaviors children with some type of disruptive behavior disorder take the achievement of these acts and behaviors to the extreme, affecting their daily lives, as well as the lives of those around them.
Within this DSM classification of disruptive disorders we find the following disorders:
What are the signs or symptoms?
Although it is true that each of the diagnostic categories described above has its own clinical picture with all types of distinctive symptoms, There are a series of symptoms or warning signs that can guide us when detecting whether a person suffers or is developing any of the above behavioral alterations, especially if they are children.
We can categorize these signs into three different groups: behavioral symptoms, cognitive symptoms, and psychosocial symptoms.
1. Behavioral symptoms
They are, fundamentally, the following.
2. Cognitive symptoms
These are common cognitive symptoms.
3. Psychosocial symptoms
These are the most relational aspects of this psychological phenomenon.
What causes this type of behavior?
As with the symptoms, each disruptive behavior disorder has a series of its own causes. However, there are a series of risk factors that favor the appearance and development of these disruptive behaviors. Among them we find:
Exposure to violence.
Family history of mental illness or substance abuse.
As we mentioned, disruptive behaviors They do not necessarily have to be associated with a psychological disorder. However, when these appear persistently and accompanied by other symptoms, it is possible that it is one of the disruptive behavior disorders.
1. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
Oppositional defiant disorders are defined by the appearance in the child of a pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient and hostile behaviors towards authority figures.
A child with ODD may constantly argue with adults, lose control of his emotions very easily, refuse to follow rules, continually annoy others, and behave in an angry, resentful, and vindictive manner. In these cases it is very common for the child to cause constant conflicts and disciplinary situations both at school and at home.
In a large proportion of cases, without early diagnosis and treatment, the symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder worsen over time and sometimes become severe enough to trigger a diagnosis of conduct disorder.
2. Intermittent explosive disorder
This behavioral alteration is a psychological disorder in which the person manifests a random pattern of disruptive, aggressive and disproportionate behavioral responses. In most cases, these are caused or provoked by a specific reason, nor without an apparent purpose; causing severe damage and harm to the person’s social environment and to themselves.
3. Conduct disorder
Conduct disorder is a more severe version of oppositional defiant disorder. Defined by the DSM itself as a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the person violates the basic rights of others as well as the main social norms linked to the age of the subject.
This disorder can involve serious assaults on people or harm to animals, deliberate destruction of property or vandalism, theft, skipping classes, and attempting to ignore social norms without being caught.
4. Antisocial personality disorder
In this case, the clinical picture is very similar to that of the conduct disorder but with the requirement that It can only be diagnosed in people over 15 years of age. In addition to the behaviors that appear in the previous diagnosis, antisocial personality disorder also includes other disruptive behaviors such as
Lack of adaptation to social norms and legality.
Impulsiveness.
Inability to acquire responsibilities.
Lack of concern for one’s own safety or that of others.
5. Pyromania
Popularly known as arsonists, these subjects show behaviors that are distinguished by the repetition of acts or attempts to cause fires or set fire without an apparent objective or motivation, both to the property of others and to any type of object.
6. Kleptomania
Finally, the last of the psychological disorders in which disruptive behavior is one of the main symptoms is kleptomania.
In it, the person manifests repeated behavior of theft or appropriation of someone else’s property. What distinguishes this disorder from the usual act of stealing is that the person does not seek to get rich or obtain material goods, but rather the moment of the theft is itself a purpose.
