“Jocelyn, I cannot believe that your brother was arrested for setting the mascot’s uniform on fire before the Homecoming game. Then he was caught trying to break into the school cafeteria cash register. Why does he do that crazy crap?”

“I don’t know Kate, but it is so embarrassing. He pulls crazy stunts all of the time and he is only twelve. Last week he took my dad’s car for a drive and it ended up in the river. He does this type of stuff everyday!” she exclaimed.

Jocelyn sounded disgusted. She and mother had been dealing with this bad behavior from her brother Trevor for two years. They tried grounding him, punishing him, taking away privileges but nothing helped because he would simply not obey. Trevor was lying, brutalizing his peers, running away from home and breaking the laws as a way of expressing whatever anger was built up inside.

A possible reason for Trevor’s unbearable behavior was being neglected and abused by his father as a young child. His estranged father was an alcoholic that used to hit Trevor when he was drunk. Trevor also witnessed his father’s lying and stealing, which did not set a good example for him. There was no male in Trevor’s life to look up to.

Trevor finally received therapy so that he could identify what made him misbehave. He was then able to find healthy, adaptive options when problems arose, for dealing with inner conflict and for properly expressing his feelings. This enabled him to develop healthy social relationships as an adult and saved him from having trouble with the law and keeping a job later in life.