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a person must exhibit four out of the eight signs and symptoms to meet the diagnostic threshold for ODD.

• Is often touchy or easily annoyed

• Is often angry and resentful

• Often argues with authority figures or, for children and adolescents, with adults

• Often actively defies or refuses to comply with requests from authority figures or with rules

If I were imprisoned against my will I would certainly be exhibiting these 4 "symptoms." Does that mean I have oppositional defiant disorder?

The problem with this is that it can too easily classify behavior that is appropriate to the situation as a disorder. The distinction that a professional might make is that these symptoms are only considered signs of a disorder if they are not appropriate to the situation, and that is a value judgement that cannot be objectively determined. This makes the diagnosis heavily subject to the values and beliefs of the person making it. In my opinion, we shouldn't he classifying these types of situational behaviors as a disorder because the cause is almost always external/environmental, which a psychiatrist is often ill-equipped to address.