Bart Simpson would be diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder from his actions towards his family. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a disorder that is developed in childhood and is portrayed by a pattern of disobedient and hostile behaviors towards adults and authority figures and characterized by displaying irritable and angry moods. Children also display argumentative and revengeful behaviors. For the parents it seems like nothing can make them happy. The children with this disorder purposely cause conflict and annoy the people around them. He would be diagnosed with this disorder because he would not obey an authority figure’s rules, argued about everything, loses his temper easily, and deliberately annoys people. Bart acts like this to get his way in all situations and will not stop and will seek revenge if his mother tries to punish him. These are just some examples of the symptoms that could legitimize the fact that Bart has ODD.
There are many ways that Bart may have developed this disorder. The most suitable way he could have developed it is by his environment at home. Marge said that if she didn't get help that Bart would end up like her father. This means that if Bart's father was acting like this when he was younger and still does it to this day he could have developed it from his actions at home. Factors such as a dysfunctional family life, a family history of mental illnesses and/or substance abuse, and inconsistent discipline by parents may contribute to the development of behavior disorders. (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) Bart would think it's normal to act that way if he sees someone of a higher power and a role model. Another reason why Bart could have developed this disorder is the inconsistent discipline. Marge gives in to Bart’s temper tantrums and is often scared to hurt her child and doesn't know how to handle him. This leads to Marge being reluctant to discipline her child which leads to Bart getting his way and thinking he can act as such to get his way.
The treatments that would help his condition would be a variety of options. Marge’s treatments were not effective at all. They had tried spanking him, reasoning with him, pleading with him, and taking away his toys. They had even tried rewarding him with candy or ice cream if he stopped having a fit. (Case Studies in Abnormal Psychology) Most of these however would have to be a combination of treatments to really get the full effect of curing this disorder. He could be treated by parent management training programs and family therapy which teaches parents how to manage their child's behavior by teaching them unique and effective strategies to discipline their child better. This could be effective by curing his disorder but also at the same time teaching Marge how to further deal with this dilemma so she can stop it from happening again. Cognitive Problem Solving skills training could also be another option to cure Bart. This method reduces inappropriate behavior by teaching the child to have a positive outlook in stressful situations. As it states ODD can make you have a negative outlook on everyday situations, this method helps them have a more positive mindset. This could help Bart by letting him be more happy with life ultimately leading him to be in a better mood and have less frequent meltdowns. Social-skills programs could also be another option. This includes teaching children how to relate more positively with peers. Experts agree that therapies given in a one-time or short-lived fashion, such as boot camps, tough-love camps, or scare tactics, are not effective for children and adolescents with ODD (ODD: A Guide For Families). Then as always there is medication that he would be able to take for ODD. When performing these plans it takes more than a few quick sessions. These plans usually run up to several months or more depending on the parents follow through and the child cooperation. There is not a medication that is scientifically established to treat ODD but usually doctors prescribe antidepressants or ADHD medications because it has more or less of the same symptoms. Medication is not the best option though. In all different age groups individual therapy focused on problem-solving skills has shown to be a great amount of improvement from the behavior of children and adolescents with ODD. Problem-solving skills training is mostly geared to a child’s age and focused on helping the child have new problem-solving skills.
Spanking would not be effective with children such as Bart because it is a negative punishment. Spanking is only effective for a small amount of children. People have stopped spanking nowadays because it causes major mental health illnesses such as depression. The negativity behind spanking would not make things better for Bart or his mom. It would only hurt Bart more mentally and same goes with Marge. Marge doesn't want to hurt her kid and it takes a toll on her as well. Bart needs more positivity in his life. A kid with Barts condition would be better off with positive support strategies. Spanking would only make the child more angry and disobedient in the future. There are more effective ways to discipline your ODD child. These could be setting up expectations to allow your child to earn privileges for following the expectations, using compassionate statements to show you understand how they feel and using praise. These are just many of the few that could be put towards disciplining children with Barts condition. Spanking is just negative reinforcement and leads to the child acting out more than being feared of being spanked. Spanking would only feed into their traps and games of being in control. ODD kids feed off negativity and can usually use this tactic against their parents. Spanking just makes it worse for everyone.
Barts behavior could impact his school performance drastically. ODD has a very strong link with doing poorly in school. ODD can cause mass hysteria in the classroom. Just as at home Bart will act the same way when it comes to cooperating with his teachers. Teachers will become frustrated with Barts behavior and not know how to handle it. Which will lead to Bart getting sent to the principal's office quite a few times. Bart will be disruptive, disrespectful of teachers, aggressive with his peers and overall rebellious. This could lead to him having poor grades and possibly no friends. Bart would divert people's attention or help away from him in school because no one would want to deal with such a difficult child. Other children would distance themselves from Bart because he would act different and never be a team player. This condition if it didn't get treated could have a huge toll on his academics and social life as a whole. This would lead to his symptoms getting worse or developing new disorders such as depression or getting more irritable. Children's social life is practical part of their happiness, but when a kid is left out they tend to become more hostile and angry. Bart would be seen as a nuisance in the classroom and be in trouble more than other kids. His lack of compliance and rebelliousness would get him office referrals and detentions more than anyone else. This could make him act out more in class and at home, he would feel the need for revenge on whoever made him mad. This would also take a toll on Marge as well. She would blame herself for not raising her kid right and blaming everything on herself. If they were not to get treatment Barts behavior would spiral out of control, making everything worse. Treatment is vital for Bart and it would make everyone's lives better.