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How do you help young people with conduct disorder?

In the last post, we saw how:

• Those who have kleptomania usually steal what they do not need.
• There appears to be a pattern of lying for personal gains in conduct disorders.
• Treating kleptomania will require the patient recognising there is a problem.

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Is it common for kids with conduct disorder/psychopathy to always be making up things, telling stories, and being pathological liars? Why do they do this?

Welcome to Medic Vibes, where we discuss mental health disorders and make sense of them. Dr Ebingo Kigigha is a medical doctor (aspiring psychiatrist) and creative person (illustration and music). This has been our routine for four consecutive months. This month will be dedicated to Conduct disorder. In the first month, we discussed Depression, and in the subsequent month, anxiety. We just finished with Eating disorders.

In this post, we are looking at Tik Tok. To learn more just keep scrolling down. You can also skip to the key point of the post if you which or go to the conclusion to get the summary.

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Pyromania Overview

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Pyromania is a disorder is characterized by an abnormal interest in fire. There are a lot of things people think are the case in pyromania that is not true. For example, people think that arson is pyromaniacs but they are not.

On some mainstream media channels, they tend to use the terms arson, fire-setter and pyromania as synonyms but they do not mean the same thin

Pyromania is seen in a very small number of people and for this reason, many researchers are not sure how many people have this condition.

The American Psychiatric Association emphasizes that this is a mental health condition and it falls into a class of disorders known as impulse control disorder. In every impulse disorder, there is an uncontrollable drive to destroy or carry out an activity.

The others in this class of disorders are pathological gambling cases and kleptomania.

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Conduct disorders and treatment(Reaction)

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Image by Freepik

Kara Soylular Indigo Child and Future Author explained that she does not know much about the disorder but did her research and what she gathered was the fact that those who suffer from this disorder usually do not have empathy and partake in questionable acts and break the law.

Children who have this disorder typically have a history of past trauma and if the condition is not properly managed, it will lead to antisocial behaviour in the future.

She explained that the best thing that can be done for them is to give them a good example to emulate and help them seek therapy. The best you can do is to help build empathy in these them.

If at some point they speak of how they feel it would do a great deal if you listen to them. You can help them understand exactly how they feel as a responsible adult.

Re-enforcing good behaviour with rewards is a very important aspect of treating this condition. If they like video games or better yet there is an activity two of you can participate in together.

Punishing them in her opinion seemed like a bad idea and the descriptions have shown that this could worsen features of this condition.

Things that can involve fear may be the only way to reach this type of person, though if you aggravate them, it may not go down well.

It would not be a good idea to get them agitated as it will require taking things to unnecessarily aggressive levels to achieve any response.

She recognized that some emotions like remorse are blunted out in these patients but felt fear might not be out of reach.

She speculated that calling the police for this child and arresting them may not be a good idea if they have decided they do not want to go for therapy.

She explained that for her borderline personality disorder, some programs helped and such programs can exist for conduct disorders.

Try a compassionate approach first…

She pointed out that it would be helpful to encourage them to be empathetic by taking them to volunteer in soup kitchens and showing love to the homeless.

She further emphasized the importance of having a good role model in the life of this child as young people are constantly looking for who to be inspired.

She advised that buying a pet would be helpful but they are also prone to be violent to pets and if they are you should take the pet away from them. She advised that starting with a fish and rewarding them further along the line would be to get them a therapy dog or a cat.

Homeschooling them would seem like a good idea for them but it is possible that it can cause them to feel felt alone and it may slow down their journey to empathy. But having them at home can help you get a closer watch on them and help them build before going out to interact with other children.

She explained that martial art might be a good way for these children to vent and let go of their anger but it has the potential to worsen the features seen in this disorder. If they are willing to follow through with the program it will help them build self-reliance and courage.

She also suggested Equine therapy where the person is made to approach a horse and be patient as the horse accepts the person.

They may be still in the hands of the person who is abusive to them and it will be helpful to take them away from them.

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Treating Pyromania

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It is probably more dangerous to leave this condition untreated but in some cases gets better without treatment. Without treatment, the clinical features can go away with time. But the best bet is with therapy.

Doctors are not quite sure how to go about this condition, to be frank, but some modes of therapy have been effective in controlling symptoms and putting them in remission.

The top on the list of treatment modalities is cognitive behavioural therapy and this involves helping the patient develop coping mechanisms so that they can better manage the impulses as they appear.

In addition to behavioural therapy aversion therapy has also proven to be helpful. In Aversion therapy, the patient breaks patterns of thought that are associated with this disorder after identifying them.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake inhibitor (an antidepressant class) is very effective in managing this disorder and is the drug of choice for patients who do not respond to cognitive behavioural therapy or aversion therapy.

Anxiolytics such as benzodiazepines also are effective in dealing with symptoms of this disorder.

Drug therapy for manic disorders and schizophrenia tends to be effective in managing this disorder and should be tried.

Trying drug therapy with psychotherapy is also helpful in managing the clinical features of this condition.

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Questions

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• What did you learn about Conduct disorders?

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Conclusion

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• Pyromania is a disorder is characterized by an abnormal interest in fire.
• Conduct disorder are difficult disorder to treat and requires special care and attention.
• Pyromania is treated with pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy.

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References

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• Kaplan-Sadocks-Comprehensive-Textbook-Psychiatry
• Page demarcations made with Inkscape.org
• Healthline