Furious Seasons

October 01, 2008

Researchers: Conduct Disorder Now A Mental Illness

For as long as I can remember, conduct disorder (sometimes known as anti-social disorder in adults), a slippery diagnosis to begin with, has been parked securely among Axis 2 disorders in the DSM and is commonly thought of as a personality disorder. But now, according to the Telegraph (UK), British researchers are claiming that "anti-social behaviour 'is a mental illness'" and results from, brace yourselves, an imbalance of brain chemistry. I suppose there will now be a hue and cry to shift conduct disorder over to Axis 1, where the true mental illnesses currently reside.

I've not seen this research published yet and the paper doesn't point to a publication, so this falls into wait and see country, but here's how the paper described the research:

"There were 70 boys with a diagnosis of conduct problems and 95 with no history of behaviour problems or psychiatric disorders to compare to the first group. All were aged between 14 and 18.
"They all played a video game in which the pre-recorded opponent always failed to cooperate and sent antagonistic messages. The boys had to play a game under time pressure with the video opponent and the experimenter watching and the opponent continually giving negative assessments of their performance.

"Normally, in these situations, the body increases levels of the stress hormone cortisol which makes people focus more, behave more cautiously and regulate their temper and violence. But in the boys with severe anti-social behaviour problems, the cortisol levels actually went down.

"The scientists, led by Dr Graeme Fairchild and Professor Ian Goodyer, said: 'If we can figure out precisely what underlies the inability to show a normal stress response, we may be able to design new treatments for severe behaviour problems. We may also be able create targeted interventions for those at higher risk.'

"'A possible treatment for this disorder offers the chance to improve the lives of both the adolescents who are afflicted and the communities in which they live.'

"These results suggest that antisocial behaviour may be more biologically-based than previously considered, just as some individuals are more vulnerable to depression or anxiety due to their biological make-up."

Perhaps these kids ought to get cortisol injections then. Kidding aside, this is the kind of study that would need to be replicated many times before anyone should buy its conclusions, especially the creepy social control suggest that "treatment" will benefit the community at large. It's not like these kids are murderers after all.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at October 1, 2008 12:03 AM

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Comments

I think you're unfair on the researchers here. "Mental illness" doesn't appear in the article and their findings seem logical enough. As for benefits to the community, I have one individual on my caseload who is diagnosed with ASPD and his first bad act involved setting a fire at a school. His most recent occurred at a park and involved shoving a roll of toilet paper into every toilet and flushing every toilet.

Posted by: Will at October 1, 2008 05:01 AM

More of this pathologizing normal behavior. It's sick.

Posted by: Sally at October 1, 2008 06:44 AM

not so will. the mental illness quote appers in the headline and there the paper is quoting the researchers and another press account of the same research quotes researchers calling it a mental illness. as for the firebug, they aren't all like that will....not even close in my experience.

Posted by: Philip Dawdy at October 1, 2008 08:36 AM

A site that's been around for years for parents who believe in this disorder is conductdisorders dot com there's a lot of pharmaceutical interventions going on there.

Posted by: Stephany at October 1, 2008 09:18 AM

"to Axis 1, where the true mental illnesses currently reside."

Really Philip? The 'true mental illnesses'? How's that Philip? How are they 'true'?.

And it doesn't surprise me one bit that you worked for Big Pharma when you were younger as confessed in your post about the Credit Crunch.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if you were still on the payroll.

Posted by: Cindy at October 1, 2008 09:27 AM

"Conduct Disorder"...

Psychiatrists often conduct themselves in quasi-fascist, sociopathic and psychopathic manner...

Does this mean they have "conduct disorder"? ....

Posted by: truthman30 at October 1, 2008 10:24 AM

Cindy,

Read the archives and you will find out that Philip did not "confess" to working for "pharma"(it's not new information); and it was not for psychiatric medications.

Continue to read the archives from 2005- present and you will find out that Philip is an award winning journalist, that this site is funded by reader support and Philip's freelance work, that he does not want Pharma-funding this site or him, and that is the beauty of this site, compared to other mental health sites that are flooded by pharma ads so to the point it makes it nearly impossible to find the articles buried in ads for Geodon, Abilify etc.

Posted by: Stephany at October 1, 2008 10:47 AM

wow, cindy, you must be new here and i'm sorry i referred to my sales rep days without the full context. the reality is i was selling medical devices--highly useful ones too--for a little over a year and got the hell out. pharma companies are crazy places to work and generally treat their employees like crap.

as for my reference to true mental illnesses, i was being a bit sarcastic.

Posted by: Philip Dawdy at October 1, 2008 11:02 AM

This sounds so much like the USSR diagnosis of sluggish schizophrenia. In this model even the mildest form of dissent or noncomformity, in other words sane and valid, safe ways of thinking and behaving, are viewed as pre symptoms of mental illness and the sufferers are confined for life to prevent them from going "crazy," never mind the effect of lifetime imprisonment on mood, spirit and behavior.

A boy who has a purportedly abnormal cortisol reaction to a violent video game under this model should be drugged, never allowed control of his finances, and will "for his own good" eventually be "institutionalized." Ain't it grand? http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pagerender.fcgi?artid=1341504&pageindex=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggishly_progressing_schizophrenia

It's under this model that genuinely angry, troubled folk like KiKi Chang (http://www.ibh.com/html/chang.html)can claim that he can tell an infant having a normal temper tantrum (i.e. one he hasn't yet examined) from an infant with a biologically defective bipolar brain from one with a biologically defective adhd brain from one with a biologically defective add brain, ad nauseum, ad infinitum into the tragic nightmare of biopsych and human misery we get today.

Posted by: Sally at October 2, 2008 08:11 AM

In my clinical practice as a social worker, I have never seen Conduct Disorder diagnosed on Axis II. It has always been diagnosed on Axis I along with others (with the exception of mental retardation) that fall under the heading "Usually Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood or Adolescence". Axis II is for personality disorders and mental retardation.
To my knowledge, the only way a conduct disorder would get to Axis II would be if the teen crossed over into adulthood and then met the criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Posted by: Folkswitch at October 5, 2008 03:58 PM