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Pharmacotherapy for Children and Adolescents with Conduct Problems

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Clinical Handbook of Assessing and Treating Conduct Problems in Youth

Abstract

Conduct problems can be formally classified as “disruptive behavior disorders” which include conduct disorder (CD), oppositional defiant dis­order (ODD), and disruptive behavior disorder not otherwise specified (DBD-NOS) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 4th edition (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Conduct Disorder is a serious disorder which is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior and can be helpfully divided into early (before the age of 10 years) or late onset. Clinicians are often pessimistic about the effectiveness of treatment options available to manage CD and ODD; in particular, many are skeptical about the value of pharmacological treatments for managing CD and ODD, but is this skepticism justified?

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Smith, H.L., Coghill, D.R. (2011). Pharmacotherapy for Children and Adolescents with Conduct Problems. In: Murrihy, R., Kidman, A., Ollendick, T. (eds) Clinical Handbook of Assessing and Treating Conduct Problems in Youth. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6297-3_15

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