Mental health interventions in divorce proceedings.

Abstract

The protracted process involved in family disruption provides the opportunity for different types of mental health intervention. In addition to the traditional diagnostic and evaluative services typically requested by the legal system, preventive and therapeutic programs can be developed. Implementation of a program by the UCLA Section on Legal Psychiatry is described.

Relationships Between Former Spouses

“…With regard to the parent-child relationship, continued access to both parents has been found to have a positive influence on children's adjustment to divorce (Wallerstein &Kelly, 1975). There is little agreement, however, on what the ideal kind of interaction is with regard to'the frequency and content of the coparental relationship (Suarez et al, 1978;Goldstein et al, 1973). On the other hand, there is consensus that a successful coparental relationship involves mutual support and cooperation between former spouses and has optimal impact on postdivorce adjustment of family members, particularly children (Kressel & Deutsch, 1977).…”

Impact psychologique de la séparation et du divorce

“…Plusieurs types d'interventions semblent contribuer à ce développement individuel, que ce soit la thérapie familiale (Goldman et Coane, 1981), la thérapie de groupe ou les programmes éducatifs pour parents divorcés (Brown, 1985 ;Davidoff et Schiller, 1983 ;Swarez et al, 1981), les groupes de discussion (Cobollero et al, 1987), et les groupes d'entraide (Guay, 1984) tels que les regroupements de personnes séparées et divorcées.…”

Children in Divorce, Custody and Access Situations: The Contribution of the Mental Health Professional

“…Several workers (Rothschild, 1978;Suarez, 1978) have mentioned the difficulties of financial reimbursement in this work and suggest that this should be clarified before work is begun. Few referring agents realize how much time is needed to assess each competing party and each child, and to prepare a report, McDermott et al (1978) have devised a parent-child interaction test.…”

“…Other criteria suggested were the moral, mental and physical fitness of the competing parties, but, at least in one jurisdiction (British Columbia, Canada), these are only considered if they interfere with the capacity to parent (Custody, Access and Guardianship, Fifth Report of Royal Commission on Family and Children 's Law, 1975), An agreement should be established with referring agents (Derdeyn, 1975;Rothschild, 1978;Krell, 1978;McDermott et al, 1978), who are frequendy lawyers for one or other competing party, that all contesting persons should be available for assessment and that the report should be made available to the judge or a lawyer appointed for the child (also known as a "child advocate" or "amicus curiae"). Both Gardner (1978) and Suarez (1978), however, feel that amicus curiae is more hindrance than help. In Michigan state there is an Office of the Friends of the Court , and in Canada Unified Family Courts have been established (McDonald, 1973), both of which try to ensure representation of the child and make the hearings less formal so that all pertinent information can be obtained; the adversary positions of the contesting lawyers can be modified; and in some instances settlements can be made out of court.…”