What Is The Difference Between Bipolar Disorder And Oppositional Disorder Or Conduct Disorder?

— -- Question: What is the difference between bipolar disorder and oppositional disorder or conduct disorder?

Answer: Oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder are very typically diagnoses of children and adolescents.

They do not necessarily refer to the mood problems that define bipolar disorder -- they refer to the behavioral problems that may be encountered either in interactions with important people to a child, or in interactions with society.

The oppositional defiant disorder is usually defined in terms of struggles with family members, teachers, people that are intimately involved in the child's life. Conduct disorder is defined in terms of behavior that in inappropriate against society. Both of them can certainly be present in the histories of people who eventually develop bipolar disorder, but they really are separate and distinct entities.

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