We know the complex psychological effects of high-conflict divorce, but how do we understand the contribution of narcissism, envy and perverse thinking?
This Saturday, Jan. 21, forensic psychologist Michael Donner, a psychoanalyst, child custody evaluator and ethicist, will take an analytic approach to questions usually considered part of the family court system.
Sponsored by the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, Saturday's event features H. Spencer Bloch, MD, author of Adolescent Development, Psychopathology, and Treatment, as discussant.
The event runs from 10:00 a.m. to noon and is free. To register, call Aaron Chow at (415) 563-5815 or email him HERE. More information and online registration is HERE.
Donner authored an excellent article by the same title in Psychoanalytic Psychology. Contact him (HERE) to request a copy of "Tearing Children Apart: The Contribution of Narcissism, Envy and Perverse Modes of Thought to Child Custody Wars."
Our broken family court system: Free training in Arizona
Another free training geared toward child custody evaluators is coming up March 16-17 in Phoenix, Arizona. Co-sponsored by the National Alliance of Professional Psychology Providers and the Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Foundation, it features a cast of well-known experts, including:
- Dr. Lenore Walker (author of the classic, The Battered Woman’s Syndrome)
- David L. Shapiro, PhD
- G. Andrew H. Benjamin, JD, PhD, ABPP
- Judge Marjory Fields
- John Caccavale, PhD (speaking on Business Ethics for Custody Evaluators)
More information and online registration is available HERE.
2 comments:
I am glad to have discovered this post, and am about to blog on it. My comment will be more than 4,096 characters -- funny how this is no match for the volumes written by professionals about people in my situation -- domestic violence survivors who had to run the gauntlet of family law (dominated by psychologists and mental health practitioners seeking to elevate their professional niches while destroying others who aren't yet up to speed in the purpose behind the family court archipelago. See http://thefamilycourtmoneymachine.blogspot.com for a sampler...
I read Dr. Walker's work, and I also saw Toby Kleinman, Esq. in a conference be unable to answer a question from the floor "what if you are dealing with a corrupt judge?" which is a real issue faced by (parents). I have personally written the Leadership Council (email) why they continue to talk about Parental Alienation Syndrome without (ahem) mentioning who is promoting it, and why they are not taking another tactic in trying to help reduce the ongoing trauma people suffer growing up witnessing violence, or divorcing child abusers or wife-beaters only to suffer equally and with no closure in sight because there is no JUSTICE in site. And these people seek out advocates who then fail to even tell them how the family law system works.
The philsophy "get a better expert" is a moot point if one is broke. People get broke in part through how child support is handled. Looking at the child support system, one then is led straight back to welfare reform.
But because professionals (perhaps) do not have their OWN children at stake, or most of the times, their own life at stake, and I mean PHYSICAL life in context, somehow they never seem to figure out the overall operating paradigm. Or, if they do, they have a mutual code of silence on it.
I have no respect for the use of the word "forensic" appended to "psychologist." It's an oxymoron and shows just how pretentious your field is. Pretentious is not dangerous, but when hooked to the judicial and medical community and as a gateway to drive people into behavioral health system (see cummings foundation / American Biodyne, etc.) it is.
I'm not holding my breath on approval of the comment, however will continue this discussion on my blog address, which I just submitted.
I find it interesting that (unlike many news articles) and on a website which is directing professionals to a conference where they will talk about parents, parents commentary cannot be submitted and simply published for others to see without the moderation. As no parent can possibly keep up with all the conferences and trade associations involved int his field (AND parent AND work AND handle what very likely is also an ongoing custody case, and in SOME cases a very egregious one involving abuse or allegations of it) -- it doesn't take too long to figure out that this is a conduit situation -- we can be talked about, talked down to, labeled, and have services ordered, but are not welcome as equals to the places where this happens.
In California, there is a Brown Act to prohibit this sort of meeting, for what it's worth. Too many cLosed door deliberations can lead to stale set of ideas being recirculated through the various Ph.D.'s J.D.s and Psy.D.s who are obviously (see degrees) wiser, smarter, nobler, and more competent to run parents lives than the parents who actually do the legwork of life with their kids (when permitted to).
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