Rare disorder that affects children and teens the focus of new study by doctors

TAMPA, Fla. — A mental health condition not well known, called “Conduct Disorder,” affects children and teens.

According to the CDC, “Conduct Disorder” is diagnosed when children show an ongoing pattern of aggression toward others and serious violations of rules and social norms at home, in school, and with peers. These rule violations may involve breaking the law and result in arrest.

“The prevalence of this disorder worldwide is about 2% to 4%, so it is quite high,” said Dr. Yidian Gao, a Doctor of Psychology.

“In psychiatry in general, we're still quite far away from using brain scans to actually diagnose people,” said Dr. Marlene Staginnus, A PHD Psychology Researcher.

Both Dr. Gao and Dr. Staginnus co-led a study on the brain structure of kids with “Conduct Disorder.”

“We collaborated with more than 104 researchers and combined existing new imaging data from research groups across Europe, the U.S. and Asia,” said Dr. Staginnus.

She continued, “That basically allowed us to then sort of gain these novel insights and perform the largest study comparing brain structure between more than 1,000 young people with CD and those who did not have CD, a similar-sized group.

But the doctors say the most challenging part of this disorder is properly diagnosing it.

“There's still a really big misconception that conduct disorder in young people is simply young people behaving badly. They are naughty. They have experienced bad parenting, and it's not a genuine mental health problem, and this is definitely one of the major concerns,” explained Dr. Staginnus.

And Dr. Staginnus fears many believe this rare disorder cannot be treated.

“There's also that sort of lack of awareness generally, that might also relate to the fact that there currently is this myth that conduct disorder, or any anti-social behavior related disorders, cannot be treated, which also relates to the fact that there's not one specific medication that was developed for conduct disorder, as opposed to ADHD,” said Dr. Staginnus.

So, by studying “Conduct Disorder” through brain scans both Dr. Gao and Dr. Staginnus found extensive changes in their brain structure with new brain areas now associated with the disorder.

“They went beyond the regions that we typically associate with anti-social behavior, such as the subcortical region of the Amygdala, and this really suggests that they seem to be more global, more widespread differences, rather than really focal differences in one or two individual brain regions,” explained Dr. Staginnus

The study also found youth with a more severe form of “Conduct Disorder” had a higher number of brain changes and gender was not a factor.

“We found that these brain differences were present across both boys and girls with conduct disorder, which a lot of studies had not looked at, or they had found conflicting findings,” said Dr. Staginnus

“Conduct Disorder is often diagnosed between 10-16 years old. Boys are diagnosed at an earlier age than girls.

These doctors found that understanding the brain differences associated with the disorder will help develop more effective approaches to diagnosing and treating the condition.