Children with diagnosed psychopathologies may experience aggravation of those illnesses with their exposure to media violence. Children with the most common, often undiagnosed, form of psychopathology--Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBDs)--manifested changes in heart rate, heart vagal heart tone and other psychophysiological reactions to media violence. Children without a diagnosis did not manifest these same psychophysiological responses. These reactions, or the absence of them, made determining the effect of violent media on children a more reliable measure than acted out behavior, which can be more susceptible to experimenter interpretation and, thus, experimenter bias. This paper explains why there is a difference in the psychophysiological responses between the two groups. Future research should more carefully examine the putative psychological harm violent television content may impose on children with psychological ailments.