Is There a Doctor in the Court? Focus on Parental High Conflict

The author, a California Superior Court judge who is currently assigned to family law court, describes certain cases of marital dissolution as “parental civil wars” in which a high level of conflict between parents has deleterious effects on children. He calls on clinicians and social services systems to improve interventions to address high-conflict marital dissolutions and develop collaborations with courts to avoid lifelong negative consequences for the children involved in these cases.