The number of disturbed children is on the rise in America and elsewhere throughout the world. The information herein will help parents, teachers and therapists deal with these challenging cases.
What are disturbed children?
The behavior of some children goes well beyond the scope of typical psychological disorders, to the point that we would label them as emotionally disturbed. These are the kids who explode into fits of rage when frustrated, whose behavior legitimately frightens their parents and teachers, and who are antisocial, largely uncontrollable, and headed for a train wreck in life unless things are corrected soon.
Disturbed children are the most challenging kids to work with, but they’re also the most worthwhile. No child is ever truly beyond repair, so long as there are loving adults around willing to devote the time and effort to bring them back from the fringes. In fact, usually the biggest problem is that disturbed children trigger self-reinforcing negative patterns, wherein their difficult behavior provokes less than ideal responses from adults, which only feeds the reservoir of rage and despair they feel inside that is leading to the disturbance in the first place. The information and resources herein will help you reverse this pattern and slowly widdle away at the antisocial behavior
The definition of a disturbed child
There is no official definition of a ‘disturbed child,’ since it’s not an actual clinical diagnosis listed in the DSM. But here’s the most accurate definition I can provide: Disturbed children are those who struggle with severe psychological or behavioral disorders that leave them engaging in violent, aggressive, or extremely disruptive behaviors on a regular basis. They may appear to have very little concern for others and exhibit traits similar to a psychopath or sociopath. Yet in my experience, most psychological disturbances in children are a result of past trauma, particularly attachment traumas.
What qualifies as a disturbed child?
These kids can be difficult to manage. They may hit other children from time to time or do a poor job of following instructions, making you say things over and over again. They may be more aggressive than most children. You’ll find yourself constantly scolding and disciplining these kids. Yet as challenging as such children might be, they are generally able to control themselves when they need to. They may require a lot of adult supervision, but they are generally controlled by such supervision.
Disturbed children, on the other hand, go full nuclear when upset. They engage in behavior that’s aggressive and impossible to ignore. They hit their classmates and attack teachers. They throw toys, overturn furniture, and intentionally break things. They’ll turn ordinary items into weapons and attack others with these objects. When upset they’ll self-sabotage and engage in disruptive behavior simply for the sake of it. Their fits and meltdowns are epic, involving clawing, biting, screaming, and behavior that forces adults to restrain them.
Disturbed children often appear bipolar: they can be extremely loving and affectionate one moment only to morph into something straight from one of the Exorcist movies the next. This is a pattern common to children with attachment traumas, who possess a strong need for love and affection that sits alongside a painful wound and reservoir of insecurity. So they can behave normally one moment and seem like the most adorable child in the world. But once something taps into this hidden insecurity, (like you attempting to scold or discipline them), all this buried rage comes bursting out.
See also:
Examples & case studies of disturbed children
Information on disturbed children
For additional information on disturbed children and how to deal with them, see the following links:
Books on working with disturbed children
The following books will help anyone dealing with disturbed children:
Difficult Children
This is a guidebook for children with behavioral disorders. It will help you better manage problem children and instill the social and emotional skills that will eventually help them overcome these issues. ($9.99 Kindle eBook; all author proceeds from your purchase go to support our charitable endeavors.)
Vulnerable Children
This is an essential guide for those caring for foster kids or other disadvantaged children. It helps you understand children with attachment trauma and other vulnerabilities, helping you heal their wounds and deal with the common problems they present with. ($7.99 Kindle eBook; all author proceeds from your purchase go to support our charitable endeavors.)