how to handle a thief?

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by AGDee

After working in child and adolescent psych for 13 years, I saw a lot of ODD. It definitely exists. Children are not simply "bad". ODD kids respond to a consistent environment and therapy and, sometimes, medication.

Your premise is all wrong here.

Per your words, there are two choices when these kinds of symptoms emerge- either the child is "bad" or he has ODD.

How do you define "bad"? Even you are putting the term in quotes which suggests to me you have no idea how to quantify it.

The truth is you cannot define "bad" because it is not a choice at all- but merely a false alternative you wish to present in the most disparaging manner possible to support the concept of ODD.

And how is ODD treated? With therapy and medication. Therapy and medication that provide a financial benefit to the prescribing therapist. Your personal financial gain is thus established, but where is the evidence that this is even a treatable condition?

A man of adult age is living at home with his mother, cannot hold a job, is stealing from his own family (you are working on conjecture here- so I will too, trust me this young man is stealing from his family)- and to me that says it all.

Maybe there is some oblique, difficult to define mental issue here- but how does that help anyone deal with the realities of the situation? How many people have the luxury of money and time to figure that out?

I find it amazing that after thousands of years of human evolution and success as the dominant species on this planet that we are suddenly faced with an army of psychologists who can identify all these mysterious illnesses plaguing humanity that can only be treated with therapy and drugs.

When I was in college, people got degrees in psychology because they were too stupid and/or lazy to major in something else. The truly gifted with endeavors of the human psyche became psychiatrists- not psychologists.

It is easy to say your kid just need more nurturing- especially if you can pay someone to give that guidance or get it in bottled form. But I would love to see enduring evidence that such approaches provide long-term meaningful results.

Addiction to drugs like Ritalin seem a far more serious trouble for society at large than kids who had to grow up and realize life is not perfect like the rest of us.