Written by Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. © 2008 High Conflict Institute

One of the biggest surprises is the extent of lying in Family Court: lies about income, assets and even complete fabrications of child abuse and domestic violence. Why do people lie so much? How did they get away with it?

Written by Philip M. Stahl, Ph.D.

There’s been a great deal of publicity lately about the negative impact of divorce on children. Wallerstein et al. (2000), highlighted a small group of children who have shown ongoing problems many years after the divorce of their parents.

They report that children of divorce are at higher risk for developing academic, relationship, and substance abuse problems than children who grow up in non-divorced homes. Other researchers (Kelly, 2000; Amato, 2001; and Emery, 1999) have reported that children of divorce may be at higher risk, but that the majority of children in families of divorce do not show behavioral, emotional, or academic problems following their parents’ divorce.

© Philip M. Stahl, Ph.D.

Many families do not fit patterns of domestic violence, yet they experience a high degree of conflict. Many high-conflict families may experience intermittent outbursts of anger or violence. Even when they do not exhibit violent patterns, these families are so conflicted that they routinely go back to court to solve what should be relatively simple problems.

Written by Michael B. Donner, PhD, Oakland, California
Psychoanalytic Psychology Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association 2006, Vol. 23, No. 3, 542–553 0736-9735/06/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0736-9735.23.3.542

This article takes a psychoanalytic approach to questions usually considered to be matters of the family court system. The psychological effects of high-conflict divorce on children are well known, but what motivates their parents is less understood.

The American Journal of Family Therapy, 32:101–117, 2004 Copyright © Taylor & Francis, Inc.
ISSN: 0192-6187 print / 1521-0383 online
DOI: 10.1080/01926180490424217

Written by Michael Friedman

This article examines the concept of the high-conflict post-divorce couple. It is suggested that the use of this concept encourages the belief that post-divorce conflict is more or less equally the responsibility of both parties, whereas such conflict is often driven by one parent. The understanding of unilaterally driven post-divorce conflict has important implications for constructive intervention and for public policy.