What is a Conduct Disorder? A Conduct Disorder pertains to behavioral and emotional problems in children and teens, characterized by inappropriate social behavior, difficulty following rules and destructive behavior and violates the rights of others. Many times the adolescent has no remorse for their behavior.
Symptoms – frequent and consistently occur in all settings (home, school, public)
- Aggressive behavior such as bullying and starting fights
- Deliberately destroying property; intent to cause damage
- Physical cruelty to people
- Physical cruelty to animals
- Using a weapon that could cause serious harm
- Lying and stealing
- Blatantly disobeying rules
- Running away and/or skipping school
- Low self esteem
- Drug or alcohol abuse
- Little or no guilt or remorse for hurting others
There are varying degrees of Conduct Disorder from mild to severe and usually the symptoms fall into one of the following four categories
- Aggressive behavior
- Destructive behavior
- Deceitful behavior
- Violation of rules
Although there is no known cause for Conduct Disorder; child abuse or neglect, brain damage, genetics and traumatic life experiences are considered contributing factors. According to WebMD, it is estimated that 2-16% of children in the U.S. have Conduct Disorder. It is more common in boys than in girls and most often occurs in late childhood or the early teen years.
Treatment is imperative or an adolescent will be unable to function in society as an adult which causes problems in the workplace, in relationships and fosters anti-social behavior and can lead to the development of mood disorders, anxiety disorders and substance abuse.
Triumph Youth Services utilizes a variety of therapy milieus including a cognitive therapy approach in individual therapy mixed with group and family therapy to treat each youth’s issues.
Group psychotherapy is facilitated by a Licensed Clinician at least three times each week. These psychotherapy groups are designed to focus on a variety of therapeutic topics including, substance addiction, substance abuse, emotional disturbance and management, trauma and communication.
Family psychotherapy sessions are designed to improve the family unit as a whole. This is accomplished through Functional Family Therapy and Solution Focused Therapy. Parent training is also available. It focuses specifically on the parents without the student present. Many needs of the parents are explored including but not limited to: adequately coping with a defiant child, family systems and parental management skills.
Triumph Youth Services offers a small, highly structured family environment for youth. This family-like community promotes a social environment that takes on both therapeutic and healing properties instead of maintaining negative behaviors.
Triumph Youth Services provides a daily Life Skills Group. The goal of our Life Skills Group training program is to teach the student a new set of responses to social situations, as well as how to integrate his behavior with others in the environment. Our staff members are trained and encouraged to be effective leaders by serving as teachers or coaches who hold the young men responsible for working on problems and to act as limit setters and good listeners. This includes consistent group counseling and peer mentoring, which are crucial for helping teens develop problem solving skills, learn to control impulses and anger and change behavior.
