ODD/Daily Harassment at school

My son is 9 yrs. old.  He is in councling now due to ongoing daily verbal, and occassional physical, harassment from the other students.  My question is when the abuse of the nature, which has gone on since the '98-'99 school year, is daily and ongoing can it cause the child to exhibit the same type of symptons that we see in a standard ODD diagnosed child?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Sherry,

Ongoing mistreatment from peers can certainly bring about a range of possible behavioral and emotional reactions, though the typical symptoms of Oppositional Defiant Disorder would not ususally be among the types of responses one would expect. Of course, a child with a baseline of ODD would likely show an exacerbation of the symptoms under conditions of stress.