Being spoilt

Being spoilt… When I think about it, although it is an important expression, it has unfortunately not found its place in literature widely, maybe because it is difficult to define. However, there are other expressions that come close to it. As child psychiatrists know well, symptoms that could be listed as “frequently flying into a rage, frequently arguing, the desire to annoy and provoke others, to blame others for one’s own negative behaviour, to get angry easily, to be easily offended and hurt, to feel hate and a desire for revenge, to reject the requests of those persons regarded as authority, showing resistance…” correspond to a disorder known as “Oppositional Defiant Disorder” (ODD). The next stage is adjustment disorder and finally it progresses to antisocial personality disorder… There can be many reasons for being spoilt. For example, in underdeveloped countries “being a male child” is reason enough for being spoilt. The attitude of the mother-father, grandfather, grandmother and other people who transfer their own selfish (self-centred, egocentric) feelings onto the children and get satisfaction through them… Genetic factors, brain-function disorders; one could list many more factors. If you do not discipline a spoilt child, or to say it more clearly, if you do not introduce limits to his or her behaviour, you will have sown the seeds of serious psychiatric disorders in the future.