The treating expert: A hybrid role with firm boundaries.

Abstract

Ongoing or impending litigation may have a substantial impact on treatment, affecting parents' and children's interactions with the therapist and the structure and content of treatment. Psychologists must be prepared to think forensically as well as clinically and have the requisite expertise to support children's needs, accomplish interventions, and. if appropriate, provide information to the forensic evaluator or the court. S. Greenberg and D. Shuman's (1997) conceptualization of the treating expert is expanded and applied to the child custody or dependency case, with an emphasis on role boundaries, standards of expertise, and suggestions for professional practice.Although mental health professionals are often involved with families in crisis, they are often poorly prepared for the impact that the family's involvement with a court process has on treatment. Divorce and child protective services (CPS) cases focus on highintensity issues such as whether either parent poses a risk to the child's safety and which parent is best suited to have primary custody. Such disputes may impact on core emotional issues for parents and children, such as the children's attachment to and relationships with their parents, parents' self-esteem, or the conflicts that led to the marital dissolution.Divorcing parents frequently have concerns about each others' parenting. Such concerns may be based on behavior witnessed during the marriage (e.g., abuse of the parent or child, substance abuse, etc.), or they may derive primarily from the parent's feelings about the other parent. A parent fighting for custody may go to considerable lengths to prevail in the conflict, recruiting extended family members and friends to assist in the parent's cause. Johnston and Roseby (1997) coined the term tribal warfare to describe the alignment of a parent with his or her family of origin against the other parent and his or her family of origin. The impact of tribal warfare on family conflict may be even more intense when there is an allegation of abuse or the CPS system becomes involved. LYN R. GREENBERG received her PhD from the California School of Professional Psychology-Los Angeles. She practices clinical and forensic psychology in Los Angeles. CA. and is chair of the Forensic Committee of the L.A. County Psychological Association. JONATHAN W. GOULD received his PhD from the State University of New-York at Albany in 1985. He practices clinical and forensic psychology in Charlotte. NC.

Detection and management of malingering in people presenting for treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder: Methods, obstacles, and recommendations

“…Having one clinician conduct a malingering assessment and then, if appropriate, referring the patient to another clinician for treatment has the advantage of separating a ''forensic'' role (i.e., an objective assessment of possible malingering) from an ''advocate'' role (i.e., role as therapist). These roles can conflict with one another (Greenberg & Shuman, 1997), although there are ways in which they can be combined (Greenberg & Gould, 2001). The latter is important if it is not feasible for malingering assessment and treatment to be conducted by different clinicians.…”

Considerations in Court-Involved Therapy With Parents

“…Therapists need to learn the ethics involved in working with this population as well as learn how to work with these families without experiencing burnout. Therapists must also become fully conversant with the ethical issues that emerge when working with such cases and with the special ethical dilemmas and identity issues posed in working with cases that are actively involved with the judicial system Greenberg & Gould, 2001;Greenberg, Gould, Schnider, Gould-Saltman, & Martindale, 2003;Greenberg, Martindale, Gould, & Gould-Saltman, 2004).…”

Family Forensic Psychology

“…Biased therapy can approximate the problems associated with repeated, suggestive interviews, and can cause serious harm to children and families. Further information about the treating expert role, and related issues, can be found in Greenberg and Gould (2001) and Greenberg et al (2003).…”