Odd

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tiredofarguing3

Guest
I was wondering if anyone could tell me if ODD can run in families? Not in siblings but specifically in cousins? Also can it be hereditary?
 

nvts

Active Member
Hi! Welcome to the crowd - can you be a little more specific? There are a number of people here that aren't really sure that ODD is necessarily a diagnosis. With my kids, it's more of a symptom of their diagnosis'.

As far as running in families, I don't know that it's been determined because no one seems to know what causes ODD to start with. I will tell you this: all 3 of my older children have Aspergers Syndrome, yet only 2 of them present with an "ODD" type of behavior.

Can you break down what's going on?

Sorry I don't have much of an answer, a little background would be very helpful!

Have a good night!

Beth
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Welcome!!

As Beth said, many of us feel that ODD is more of a symptom than a diagnosis (diagnosis). ODD describes a set of problematic behaviors that are common to many problems children may have. Most diagnosis's describe symptoms and have a specific course of treatment that helps the problems. There is no treatment that really helps ODD. The diagnosis is pretty useless in terms of helping a child. Mostly it tells you the child has the behaviors and no one knows what to do or why they exist. Many of us have found that when we treat our child's primary diagnosis or diagnosis's in an effective way then the ODD behaviors greatly lessen or even disappear. This is why we don't feel it is a helpful diagnosis. It may help with insurance though, as sometimes the more diagnosis's are shown the more treatment options your insurance will cover.

As for it running in families, I don't think anyone knows. MANY other problems do run in families. I would take a look at the family tree to see what is going on there. Often untreated mental illness shows up as alcoholism and/or substance abuse. Many times those problems exist because a person is self-medicating in lieu of recognizing a real problem.

Early onset bipolar, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety related problems, and even autistic spectrum disorders do all seem to run in families, as do many other things. This includes cousins. I can point out various Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) problems in my father's side of the family. There are a huge number of cousins in his generation and it is pretty wild to look at them as a group. (It is even wilder to think about them growing up - they all lived with-in about 2 city blocks!)

If you can give us more information we can probably be much more helpful. This is an incredibly supportive group where we truly have been there done that for many problems that most people never even see.
 
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tiredofarguing3

Guest
Thank you both for your information. To be a little more detailed - my 16 year old daughter has never actually been diagnosis with ODD, but after reading about the types of behavior it usually entails, I was questioning whether she might possibly have this. I am in the process of actually making an appointment. with a counselor to try and figure some things out, although she is refusing to go because in her eyes it is "stupid". I have gone to her physician about ad/hd and he did proscribe her a low dose of Concerta, but she has not taken it consistently. I do think she needs a stronger dose so I plan to discuss this further with a counselor. To describe her behavior I would say she is very defiant and does not like to be told "no". We have always had some "backtalk", even when she was little, but she has really become quite extreme for about the last year. She doesn't seem to know how to communicate very well, and shows anger and frustration quite easily, which makes it very hard in our house because I also have a 4 yr old daughter who sees this and learns. I know that drugs and alcohol are not an issue at this point, but am worried that this could be next, especially with some of the girls that she has chosen to hang with. She has so much potential that it makes everything so frustrating. She has the potential to get a college scholarship for basketball, and we are deeply concerned that if she continues on with her behavior she will throw it all away.

The reason I was wondering if it ran in families is because my nephew, whom was the same age as her and she was quite close with, just recently committed suicide. He had been in counseling with his mother for a few years, and about the last year, really struggled with "acting out" by setting part of the house on fire and even being abusive with his mother. He was diagnosis with bipolar disorder and also depression. He definitely had traits of ODD, his mother had to strip him of everything, ie: computer, cell phone etc., this made him more angry which caused him to go into rages. I guess this could have been due to the bipolar also. He had talked about suicide quite a bit if things didn't go his way - such as with his girlfriends and things, but his counselors and mother, to an extent, had felt that him talking that way was his way of trying to be manipulative and get his way.

My daughter has a lot of the same behavior traits as her cousin, such as not liking to be told "no", but she does not talk about suicide and says that she would never think of doing such a thing (which I am thankful that she does realize that it is permanent, and she does enjoy life to much for this). I do feel though that if she were a boy she might possibly be more violent, and the only thing that stops her from being that way now is that all her actions are through her mouthiness and her defiant behavior. It is so hard when you constantly hear "I hate you", "I hope you die", and "I want you out of my life".
I am just trying to get a little advise before it could get worse.
Thanks
 
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