Why minors can indeed have ASPD
[PT] Why minors can indeed have ASPD [END PT]
Written by, and yours truly, a minor professionally dxed with ASPD.
It's an very popular misconception that minors cannot have ASPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder) and instead must have CD (Conduct Disorder) because the diagnosis criteria states an individual must be 18 or older. But here is why that is wrong;
'Adult diagnosis' isn't really a thing as mental disorders can't just appear in adulthood. The causes of ASPD include genetics and childhood trauma and symptoms of ASPD can start at as young as 2-5 years old and in order to be diagnosed you must've showed symptoms before the age of 15.
Conduct Disorder is not an minor equivalent to ASPD, they're two different disorders. Adults can have CD just as well as minors can have ASPD. Conduct Disorder refers to unlawful conduct/behavior and CD itself doesn't typically affect the entire personality since it's not a personality disorder while ASPD does and is more severe than CD.
Although few, there have been multiple cases of minors being diagnosed with ASPD because their symptoms were too severe to be CD, and the symptoms weren't the result of puberty or from another disorder. One of, and maybe the only, reason why minors aren't typically diagnosed is because differentiating antisocial behavior and just normal teenage behavior can be difficult.
Of course still most minors won't be professionally diagnosed, a lot of them are self-diagnosed and there is no problem with that either as long as they've done their research and they know it's not CD nor puberty or another disorder. "What if they're wrong?" "What if it is CD?" It's okay to be wrong about self-diagnosis, they're no professional and you probably aren't either.
You don't know what another person has and, unless they blatantly say they're faking, you cannot know they're faking. Tired of some of y'all talking about a disorder you don't have or know nothing about.