Strategies in Family Law: Personality Disorders and Alienated Children
An overview of the DSM-5 criteria for the five personality disorders that appear most frequently in family law and mental health practice, and how those patterns drive alienation, custody battles, and the harm children carry out of high-conflict divorce.
Your instructor
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer, High Conflict Institute
500,000+
professionals trained worldwide
When breakups turn vicious, the children absorb the damage.
Badmouthing, brainwashing, and allegations of alienation, child abuse, and domestic violence lead to nasty custody battles, and during them children can develop lifelong habits of all-or-nothing thinking, unregulated emotions, and extreme behaviors. Professionals who want to help sometimes make things worse by believing everything a parent says or taking sides. Understanding the personality patterns underneath, including why these clients genuinely believe outside forces cause all their problems, is what lets you actually help.
Outcomes you'll bring back from Personality Disorders & Alienated Children.
- Apply DSM-5 criteria for the five personality disorders common in family law.
- Recognize how personality disorders drive alienation and custody battles.
- Understand the lack of self-awareness at the core of personality disorders.
- Hear the characteristic language of externalized blame, and respond to it.
- Avoid the professional traps of believing everything or taking sides.
- Protect children from the harm of alienation and high-conflict divorce.
- Boost children's resilience: flexible thinking, managed emotions, moderated behavior.
Who Personality Disorders & Alienated Children is built for.
Family Lawyers
Case strategy informed by the actual diagnostic criteria in play.
Mental Health Professionals
The family law context for the disorders you already know clinically.
Judges & Evaluators
A structured frame for the highest-conflict families on your docket.
How Personality Disorders & Alienated Children is delivered.
Self-paced, on-demand video training with a downloadable PowerPoint PDF and Certificate of Completion.
- Video training — DSM-5 criteria for five personality disorders, applied to family law.
- PowerPoint PDF — Downloadable slides to keep as a reference.
- Certificate of Completion — Documentation you can submit to your licensing board.
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. is the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of the High Conflict Institute. He pioneered the High Conflict Personality Theory (HCP) and is an international expert on managing disputes involving people with high-conflict personalities. He is the author or co-author of more than 25 books, manuals, and workbooks, co-host of the podcast It's All Your Fault!, and writes a Psychology Today blog with millions of views.
Before co-founding HCI, Bill was the Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center for 15 years, a Certified Family Law Specialist lawyer representing clients in family court for 15 years, and a licensed clinical social worker therapist with twelve years of experience. He has served on the faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, taught as a Conjoint Associate Professor with the University of Newcastle Law School in Australia, and trained professionals in over 35 U.S. states and 13 countries.
Personality Disorders & Alienated Children — frequently asked questions.
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