Effects Of Oppositional Defiant Disorder On School Performance
Both in the field of education and in clinical psychology, it is of great importance for professionals to recognize the behavioral dynamics of disobedience that children and adolescents carry out both in their family and social environment and at school or institute.
This interest in studying disruptive and maladaptive behaviors on the part of a young person arises from the objective of helping them overcome their daily problems, to change their behavior and vision of the world, preventing them from getting used to living in the framework of crime and marginality, and also to educate them so that they can take advantage of opportunities for improvement and progress as individuals well integrated into society. After all, Mental health and emotional well-being are not isolated events, but are always linked to psychosocial dynamics that surround us from the moment we are born.
Although it is common for many children and adolescents to present disobedient or negative attitudes at times, there is a mental health disorder that is based on an alteration in behavior and permanent disobedience of all types of social rules and norms.
This phenomenon is known as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and is one of the most studied disorders in the world of psychology, due to its importance in the clinic and for constituting a true mental health problem and an obstacle to the correct well-being of the person. affected person and coexistence with their social, school and family environment.
If you want to know more in depth about this phenomenon, you will be interested in this article, since here we will review The main effects of oppositional defiant disorder on school performance as well as various psychotherapy strategies that psychologists use to help these young people and their families.
Oppositional defiant disorder is a psychological alteration characterized by a series of inappropriate and disruptive disobedience behaviors that are carried out by the child or adolescent.
Another of the main characteristics of this disorder is that the child has a conscious and voluntary intention to disobey the authority figures in his environment, whatever they may be and by all the means available to him.
It is a disorder that can be easily identified if both the classic behavioral patterns and the psychological symptoms and criteria necessary for a person to be diagnosed with this type of disorder are taken into account.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), to diagnose a person with oppositional defiant disorder, they must present at least 4 of the following symptoms in their daily life: get upset easily; losing your temper often, arguing with adults, breaking rules, getting angry often bother or hurt someone on purpose, or blame others for their behavior.
To diagnose oppositional defiant disorder, these symptoms must last at least 6 months and be carried out against people who are not part of the family, such as a sister or brother.
These and other behavioral patterns typical of oppositional defiant disorder have a determining influence on the person’s life and in all areas of daily relationships. Below we will see how this disorder affects the school performance of the child or adolescent who has it.
Main effects of oppositional defiant disorder on school performance
Oppositional defiant disorder can be a source of real problems in the school performance of the person who has it. Below we will see how this disorder affects the minor’s behavior at school or when doing homework.
1. Disobedience to authority
Disobedience to authority figures is one of the main characteristics of people who have oppositional defiant disorder and this symptom usually greatly affects their school performance.
Constantly challenging and provoking teachers, classmates and even directors ends up causing distraction in class for the person with oppositional defiant disorder and a deficit of interest or compliance with the academic content that is studied at all times.
2. Frequent distractions
Thus, we can categorically affirm that distractions are usually common in cases of oppositional defiant disorder as a consequence of their disruptive behavior and tending to interrupt and slow down classes and lessons.
Distractions affect both the person with the disorder and their classmates, who end up being victims of said disorder in equal measure and being distracted by the behavior of the child or adolescent with ODD.
3. Disobedience of the rules
Systematic disobedience towards rules of all kinds and even towards the demands and guidelines of teachers, also ends up causing the child or adolescent to fail to fulfill daily responsibilities.
That is why people with ODD usually always have late work and by ignoring their teachers, they end up not learning what is taught in each lesson.
4. School conflict
Conflict with classmates or coursemates is very common in any of the courses that the person with ODD may be going through.
This means that the child or adolescent He usually has conflicts of all kinds with his classmates you can even have strong fights with violence.
5. Other associated disorders
Oppositional defiant disorder is usually linked to the appearance of other psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression, stress or learning disorders. All of these disorders contribute to worsening the person’s mental health and also interfere with their school performance.
In addition to that, ODD can be linked to certain cognitive deficits or learning problems that make it difficult to acquire basic knowledge in the time that the person’s peers do. In this sense, attention problems stand out given that these minors feel disinterested in the challenges that school poses beyond informal relationships with the rest of their classmates.
7. Lack of commitment
The lack of commitment presented by people with oppositional disorder also contributes to significantly worsening their level of academic performance and grades in the long term; simply, they think about goals related to short-term desires little linked to academic ambitions or personal development.
This is because the person never commits to keeping up with homework or studying daily, nor to doing group work, nor to helping his classmates in any way.
What does a psychologist do to treat ODD?
There are several therapeutic strategies and resources that are of great help when caring for these young people and their families but in the field of psychology, the most notable are the following:
In addition to these measures belonging to the context of psychotherapy, sometimes it is also recommended to resort to pharmacological treatment to treat more intense cases. In situations of this type, psychostimulants and mood stabilizers may be used, although always strictly following the doctor’s instructions.
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