Conduct Disorder

As a toddler Kofi was a difficult child. He was demanding, impulsive and disobedient. His mother used his attitude as an excuse to maltreat and abandon him. As a kid he was frequently left at home alone without supervision. His mum beat him, burnt him, starved him and spat on him for the slightest wrong doings. She took any opportunity she got to physically abuse her son even when he hadn’t done anything wrong. To escape from this abusive reality, Kofi found solace in hurting other people and animals. He found joy in killing and dissecting animals; this became his newly found hobby. He also started fist fights so that he could deliberately hurt people. He derived pleasure from these acts. At age 17 he was suspended for setting his High school on fire. These behaviors developed as he grew. He grew up to be irritable and agitated all the time. At work he would be mean to his colleagues and always get into fights with them. He went out of his way to be disobedient to authorities and took pleasure in breaking the rules. He could never develop any stable relationships (friendships included) and abused anyone he got involved with. He grew up all alone with no one around him because he had made a name for himself as an aggressive person.

SYMPTOMS: people with conduct disorder are aggressive towards people and animals. They are usually thieves and take pleasure in violation of rules and destruction of properties.

CAUSES: this disorder can be seen more likely in children whose parents have a history of antisocial personality disorder. Other causes could be a genetic predisposition, exposure to abusive parents and child neglect. Children in the lower socioeconomic class are likely to develop this disorder. People with this disorder mostly have assumptions that others would be aggressive towards them and this leads them to be aggressive towards others.

MentalMondays by Akwama