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Did I have ODD as a child?

M

Misty Avich

Hellooooooooooo!!!
V.I.P Member
I've read up about this ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) and some of it describes me when I was a child, and a little bit as an adult too.
I have ADHD and PDD-NOS, but this ODD wasn't mentioned but do you think I had it?

As a child:-
-I had tantrums after the age most kids grow out of it
-I was often miserable, sulky, whining, demanding, cried easily
-I got distressed and angry if other kids wouldn't comply to the rules of a game
-I'd often bicker with my closest friends/relatives
-Sometimes I'd annoy others deliberately if I wasn't getting attention
-I couldn't take disappointment very well, like if an event I was looking forward to got cancelled I'd scream and throw toys across the room in rage

I wasn't like this constantly but I was a very difficult child to handle for my parents. I wasn't so bad in school though. I didn't like school because I was always anxious of getting told off by a teacher so that's why I'd force myself to behave and keep a low profile. I seemed to get along OK with other kids in the playground at school.

As an adult I have ODD a little bit when it comes to rules. I have common sense and intuitively don't break the law or hurt myself or others or anything, but I mean the smaller rules, like health and safety or other workplace rules or certain rules on the internet, etc. If I'm called out on breaking one of these rules I tend to get argumentative because I hate being told what to do or being told off.

Does all this sound like ODD, or just part of (hyperactive) ADHD?
 
Looking at my son who has ODD (while he was at home), he refused to acknowledge that his boss could issue job-related orders.
 
It actually got worse as I get older but then decreased as I got to my mid-20s.
In my late teens and early 20s I became verbally aggressive and sometimes had rage outbursts that involved screaming abuse at my loved ones in the house and saying unkind things that I didn't mean. One time my brother couldn't take it any more and he physically attacked me (I don't blame him).
I went on antidepressants after that and it helped me keep better control of my behaviour. I'm still on them now (9 years later), because I'm scared to come off them in case I start having rage outbursts again, and I don't want that to happen now that I'm married.

But there does seem to be a name for everything and I keep getting confused with which disorders I have and don't have.
 
Only a psychiatrist can verify your suspicions, but my ODD son --while constantly angry-- had what it says on the tin, a refusal to recognize that people could have valid authority* over him.

*Like parents (as a minor), bosses, landlords, police officers, etc.
 
Well I don't think I've felt like that before. As a kid I was often scared of teachers because of being too aware of the authority they had. Even now I don't like rules but it doesn't mean I think the rules shouldn't apply to me, I just have an atypical emotional reaction to being called out on things even if I know it's right.
Maybe my behaviour problems are just ADHD and not ODD. I really don't want too many disorders overcrowding my identity. Anxiety, ADHD and autism traits are enough. Lol.
 
What you described sounds like a child with Asperger’s who is not getting the things they need to survive. Quiet, structure, routine. Some of shut down when it’s difficult, some explode.

I’m no psychiatrist, but maybe the answers lie in the reasons you act the way you do.

Example: For a few years I thought I was diabetic. If I didn’t eat a meal every 4 hours I would get dizzy and confused. I was so certain of it that I went to the Dr to get tested. When the test came back negative, I bought my own blood sugar tester ($$$) and had a friend who was diabetic show me how to use it. I tested myself dozens of times but it always came up normal, so I gave up and moved on.

10 years later I discovered I have Asperger’s. Looking back, my dizzy spells were actually a mini meltdown because my routine was interrupted when I didn’t get my 4-hour meal routine met. Suddenly it all made sense. No diabetes. No blood sugar issues. Just Autism.
 
I didn't mind routine change as a kid. I just got overwhelmed with emotions and had difficulty controlling them. There weren't often triggers, just poor behavioural management. Sometimes I'd be tearful and easily distressed on a Sunday if I had school the next day even though there wasn't anything I particularly disliked about school, I was just hypersensitive to that Sunday feeling that everyone has to an extent. In fact I actually liked less routine, as routine actually made me anxious.
 
I'd recommend reading Scattered Minds by Gabor Maté. It's all about ADHD. He's a doctor and author, and also has ADHD.

What you described sounds like ADHD.

Mind you, if you pursued diagnosis enough, I'm sure you could end up with a long list of them. But you'd still be the same person.

Ed
 
The big question is:

Do you still have ODD? That would be the clincher to whether or not you had it as a child.

Although one could learn strategies as an adult, to fit in society, to be more compliant, kinder. I don't think it's something one grows out of.

Is it possible that this wasn't ODD and it was just the result of poor social skills and overstimulation as an autistic child?
 
I wasn't autistic. I was PDD-NOS, ADHD and anxiety.

I think I mentioned in my OP that I have one possible ODD trait as an adult.
 
I'd think that a good indicator of whether one has ODD would be whether or not those particular negative traits and behaviors continue to follow through from childhood into adulthood. That if they do, it seems quite likely that there's more to it neurologically speaking.

Conversely if they grow out of such traits and behaviors, I suspect that it may be likely that they never had ODD in the first place. With an adult perspective of having to deal rationally with all sorts of authentic authority figures.
 
Misty Avich said:
I didn't mind routine change as a kid. I just got overwhelmed with emotions and had difficulty controlling them. There weren't often triggers, just poor behavioural management. Sometimes I'd be tearful and easily distressed on a Sunday if I had school the next day even though there wasn't anything I particularly disliked about school, I was just hypersensitive to that Sunday feeling that everyone has to an extent. In fact I actually liked less routine, as routine actually made me anxious.
Click to expand...
I have always been really anxious on Sundays, to the point that I rarely enjoy the day off. Even today, after 32 years at the same 9-5 job.
 
I don't really "feel" autistic, just have sensory issues with certain sounds (might be misophonia plus vertigo-type sensitivity to certain tones), and social awkwardness but it leans more towards "NT with social anxiety" more than autism-type shyness. Otherwise I lack most symptoms of autism and wouldn't qualify for a diagnosis. So I just identify as PDD-NOS, or "borderline autism", but it's so frustrating when they keep changing the names.
 
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