Types of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

The following disorders can occur in children over the age of five. While signs can be present
before age five, a diagnosis is almost never made in very young children. Even in older children,
these diagnoses are made only with extreme caution, as there is controversy around the notion
of labeling children.
Children can be diagnosed with the following types of emotional and behavioral disorders:

 Anxiety disorders
An anxiety disorder is a common mental illness defined by feelings of uneasiness, worry
and fear. While anxiety occurs for everyone sometimes, a person with an anxiety
disorder feels an inappropriate amount of anxiety more often than is reasonable. For
example, an average individual may feel some anxiety before going to a dentist
appointment but a person with anxiety disorder may feel anxiety every time they leave
their home.

Many people with an anxiety disorder do not realize they have a defined, treatable
disorder and so anxiety disorders are thought to be underdiagnosed conditions. People
with an anxiety disorder often have co-occurring mental health problems, such as
depression, and this can increase serious risks like suicide. Often severe anxiety disorder
symptoms and panic attacks are a warning sign and increase the risk of suicide.

 Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that is hard to accurately describe in a
sentence or two. That is because it is a nuanced illness with so many people
experiencing it in so many ways. That said, the overarching principles of bipolar disorder
is that it is a chronic, lifelong mental illness that remains a challenging struggle for those
who have it. Bipolar disorder is characterized by periods of highly elevated or irritated
mood and energy, known as manic or hypomanic moods depending on their severity.

These alternate with periods of very deep, profound, low mood and energy, known as
depressed moods. Symptoms of depression can cooccur alongside the symptoms of
mania or hypomania and these are known as mixed moods. It is also possible to have
periods of time where few, if any, symptoms are present and these are known as
euthymic moods.

 Oppositional-defiant disorder
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a pattern of disobedient, hostile, and defiant
behavior toward authority figures. To fit this diagnosis, the pattern must persist for at
least 6 months and must go beyond the bounds of normal childhood misbehavior.
 This disorder is more prevalent in boys than girls. Some studies have shown that 20% of
the school-age population is affected. However, most experts believe this figure is
inflated due to changing cultural definitions of normal childhood behavior, and other
possible biases including racial, cultural, and gender biases.

This behavior typically starts by age 8. Emotionally draining for the parents and
distressing for the child, oppositional defiant disorder can add fuel to what may already
be a turbulent and stressful family life.

While this is one of the most difficult of behavioral disorders, setting firm boundaries
with consistent consequences plus a commitment to improving your relationship with
your child can help your family overcome the dominating grip that oppositional defiant
disorder may have on your household.

 Conduct disorder
Conduct Disorder usually begins in late childhood or early adolescence and is more
common among boys than girls. In general, children with a conduct disorder are selfish,
do not relate well to others, and lack an appropriate sense of guilt. They tend to
misperceive the behavior of others as threatening and react aggressively. They may
engage in bullying, threatening, and frequent fights and may be cruel to animals. Other
children with conduct disorder damage property, especially by setting fires. They may be
deceitful or engage in theft. Seriously violating rules is common and includes running
away from home and frequent truancy from school. Girls with conduct disorder are less
likely than boys to be physically aggressive; they typically run away, lie, abuse
substances, and sometimes engage in prostitution.

 Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Perhaps the best way to convey a true definition of obsessive-compulsive disorder
involves describing what it feels like:

Imagine your mind getting stuck on a certain image or thought. Now imagine that this
image or thought plays in your mind over and over and over again. No matter what you
do, it still keeps coming. You want it to stop, but it simply will not.

It feels like a devastating landslide or avalanche. You begin to experience feelings of

severe anxiety. Ideally, anxiety acts as your brain's warning system, alerting you about
danger. The anxiety emotion tells you to react and do something to protect yourself.
You may realize that the fear brought on by this repeating thought or image isn't
reasonable, but it still feels very real and extremely intense.
 You think that your brain wouldn't lie to you; that you wouldn't have these feelings if
there weren't a real reason. But for those with OCD, the brain does lie and the warning
system does not work properly, causing your mind to alert you to danger when none
exists.

Characteristics of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Children with E/BD have distinct traits that set their emotions and behaviors apart from other,
less extreme actions or feelings. These characteristics of the emotional and behavioral disorder
can include:

 Impulsiveness
 Short attention span
 Aggression, such as acting out or fighting
 Defiance, refusal to follow rules
 Disrespect for authority
 Arguing
 Difficulty handling frustration
 Blaming others, denying responsibility for actions
 Self-injury
 Withdrawal
 Excessive fear, often in reaction to personal problems
 Immaturity (crying, tantrums, lack of coping skills inappropriate for the age)
 Behaviors that are age-inappropriate
 Learning problems, other problems at school
 Difficulty forming and keeping relationships with other children, teachers, and even
family members
 Pervasive unhappy and/or angry mood