Conduct Disorder

A longitudinal-experimental approach to testing theories of antisocial behavior development

by Eric Lacourse

Two‐year predictive validity of conduct disorder subtypes in early adolescence: a latent class analysis of a Canadian longitudinal sample

by Eric Lacourse

Feeling, caring, knowing: Different types of empathy deficit in boys with psychopathic tendencies and autism spectrum disorder

by Alice Jones

Jones, AP., Happe, F., Gilbert, F., Burnett, S., & Viding, E. (2010), JCPP

Background: Empathy dysfunction is one of the hallmarks of psychopathy, but it is also sometimes thought to... more Background: Empathy dysfunction is one of the hallmarks of psychopathy, but it is also sometimes thought to characterise autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Individuals with either condition can appear uncaring towards others. This study set out to compare and contrast directly boys with psychopathic tendencies and boys with ASD on tasks assessing aspects of affective empathy and cognitive perspective taking. The main aim of the study was to assess whether a distinct profile of empathy deficits would emerge for boys with psychopathic tendencies and ASD, and whether empathy deficits would be associated with conduct problems in general, rather than psychopathic tendencies or ASD specifically.

Methods: Four groups of boys aged between 9 and 16 years (N = 96) were compared: 1) psychopathic tendencies, 2) ASD, 3) conduct problems and 4) comparison. Tasks were included to probe attribution of emotions to self, empathy for victims of aggression and cognitive perspective-taking ability.

Results: Boys with psychopathic tendencies had a profile consistent with dysfunctional affective empathy. They reported experiencing less fear and less empathy for victims of aggression than comparison boys. Their cognitive perspective-taking abilities were not statistically significantly different from those of comparison boys. In contrast, boys with ASD had difficulties with tasks requiring cognitive perspective taking, but reported emotional experiences and victim empathy that were in line with comparison boys. Boys with conduct problems did not differ from comparison boys, suggesting that the affective empathy deficit seen in boys with psychopathic tendencies was specific to that group, rather than common to all boys with conduct problems.

Conclusions: Although both groups can appear uncaring, our findings suggest that the affective/information processing correlates of psychopathic tendencies and ASD are quite different. Psychopathic tendencies are associated with difficulties in resonating with other people's distress, whereas ASD is characterised by difficulties in knowing what other people think.

Relation between intelligence and recidivism in conduct disordered adolescent males

by JL Gildner

Atypical empathic responses in adolescents with aggressive conduct disorder: a functional MRI investigation

by Kalina Michalska

Are we there yet? The clinical potential of intranasal oxytocin in psychiatry

by Jean Liu (Jean Loo)

The hormone oxytocin plays a major role in relationship formation and social functioning in animals and humans. We... more The hormone oxytocin plays a major role in relationship formation and social functioning in animals and humans. We review theory and research examining the potential for intra-nasal oxytocin as an adjunctive medication for several mental health problems and risks: autism, schizophrenia, developmental precursors of psychopathy, social phobia, anorexia nervosa, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression (especially postnatal) and impaired maternal-infant bonding. Initial findings suggest that oxytocin administration may alleviate symptoms of autism and social phobia, but current evidence is insufficient to recommend oxytocin as a standard treatment. Despite reasonable theoretical indications, there has also been no systematic examination of oxytocin effects with psychopathy, anorexia, depression, or in mothers with problems bonding with their infants. Findings in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder suggest that oxytocin administration may not be beneficial in this group. Overall, there are good reasons to suggest that intra-nasal oxytocin may be a promising adjunctive treatment for specific mental health problems that involve impairments in engaging comfortably with other people; however, research is in its infancy; the specificity and durability of effects remain unknown, and issues of safety and modes of delivery have yet to be addressed.

Pre-morbid Conduct Disorder symptoms are associated with cannabis use among individuals with a first episode of psychosis

by Charlotte Malcolm

Background: Early cannabis use has consistently been associated with an increased risk for the later development of... more Background: Early cannabis use has consistently been associated with an increased risk for the later development of psychosis. Studies suggest that Conduct Disorder (CD) is more common amongst young people who later go on to develop psychosis. CD has been associated with greater and earlier cannabis use in general population samples. Based on this evidence, we hypothesised that among patients experiencing their first episode of psychosis, the presence of CD symptoms prior to age 15 would be associated with cannabis use.
Method: 102 patients experiencing a first episode of psychosis were interviewed to assess CD symptoms prior to age 15 and use of cannabis and other substances. Results: The number of CD symptoms was significantly associated with lifetime cannabis use (odds ratio=5.41 (1.76–16.57), p=0.03) and with first use of cannabis before age 14 (odds ratio=1.46 (1.12–1.92), p=0.006), after controlling for stimulant/hallucinogen use and level of education.
Conclusions: Among patients experiencing a first episode of psychosis, CD symptoms were significantly associated with use of cannabis and with use by age 14. Among individuals vulnerable for psychosis, CD symptoms may independently increase the likelihood of cannabis use which in turn increases the risk of psychosis.

Conduct disorder and ADHD: Evaluation of conduct problems as a categorical and quantitative trait in the international multicentre ADHD genetics study

by Richard Anney

Anney RJ, Lasky-Su J, O'Dúshláine C, Kenny E, Neale BM, Mulligan A, Franke B, Zhou K, Chen W, Christiansen H, Arias-Vásquez A, Banaschewski T, Buitelaar J, Ebstein R, Miranda A, Mulas F, Oades RD, Roeyers H, Rothenberger A, Sergeant J, Sonuga-Barke E, Steinhausen H, Asherson P, Faraone SV, Gill M. Conduct disorder and ADHD: evaluation of conduct problems as a categorical and quantitative trait in the international multicentre ADHD genetics study. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2008 Dec 5;147B(8):1369-78. PubMed PMID: 18951430.

Autism symptoms in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a familial trait which correlates with conduct, oppositional defiant, language and motor disorders

by Richard Anney

Mulligan A, Anney RJ, O'Regan M, Chen W, Butler L, Fitzgerald M, Buitelaar J, Steinhausen HC, Rothenberger A, Minderaa R, Nijmeijer J, Hoekstra PJ, Oades RD, Roeyers H, Buschgens C, Christiansen H, Franke B, Gabriels I, Hartman C, Kuntsi J, Marco R, Meidad S, Mueller U, Psychogiou L, Rommelse N, Thompson M, Uebel H, Banaschewski T, Ebstein R, Eisenberg J, Manor I, Miranda A, Mulas F, Sergeant J, Sonuga-Barke E, Asherson P, Faraone SV, Gill M. Autism symptoms in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: a familial trait which correlates with conduct, oppositional defiant, language and motor disorders. J Autism Dev Disord. 2009 Feb;39(2):197-209. Epub 2008 Jul 19. Erratum in: J Autism Dev Disord. 2009 Feb;39(2):210-1. PubMed PMID: 18642069.

Diagnosing'Disorderly'Children: A Critique of Behaviour Disorder Discourses

by Valerie Harwood

Mobile asylums: psychopathologisation as a personal, portable psychiatric prison

by Valerie Harwood

Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education Vol. 31, No. 4, October 2010, 437-451

Keywords: ADHD, child behavior diagnosis, racialization, racism, disadvantage, poverty
more Keywords: ADHD, child behavior diagnosis, racialization, racism, disadvantage, poverty

Psychopathologisation, broadly understood as processes that lead to the effects of being psychopathologised, can have considerable consequences for isolating students from education. This can be especially the case for children and young people affected by the racialisation of behaviour and/or socio-economic disadvantage. Drawing on Foucault’s analysis of the relationship between the psychiatrist and the asylum in his lectures ‘Psychiatric Power’, the argument is made that these effects can be tantamount to being institutionalised in a mobile asylum. Portrayal of the asylum in the American television series House MD is used to highlight how, if we rely on classic depictions of the asylum-psychiatrist couplet, we risk missing - or minimising, the mobile asylum that some young children experience when they are psychopathologised in schooling.