On a bad day, have you ever been irritable? Have you ever used a harsh tone or even been verbally
disrespectful to your parents or teachers? Everyone has a short temper from time to time, but current statistics
indicate that between 16% and 20% of a school population suffer from a psychological condition known as
Oppositional Defiance Disorder, or ODD.
ODD symptoms include difficulty complying with adult requests, excessive arguments with adults, temper
tantrums, difficulty accepting responsibility for actions, low frustration tolerance, and behaviors intended to
annoy or upset adults. Parents of children with ODD can often feel as though their whole relationship is based
on conflict after conflict.
Unfortunately, ODD can be caused by a number of factors. Some students affected by ODD suffer abuse,
neglect, and severe or unpredictable discipline at home. Others have parents with mood disorders or have
experienced family violence. Various types of therapy are helpful in treating ODD, and some drugs can treat
particular symptoms. However, no single cure exists.
The best advice from professionals is directed toward parents. Therapists encourage parents to avoid
situations that usually end in power struggles, to try not to feed into oppositional behavior by reacting
emotionally, to praise positive behaviors, and to discourage negative behaviors with timeouts instead of harsh
discipline.
As used in this passage, the phrase feed into most nearly means:
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