Betrayal of Children

What’s the going price for the betrayal of children these days?

Apparently it’s 20,000 to 40,000 pieces of silver. It appears the price of betrayal has gone up.

Dr. Childress diagnoses child abuse when it is present.  When a parent creates delusional-psychotic pathology in the child that damages the child’s bond to the other parent, that is a DSM-5 diagnosis of Psychological Child Abuse (V995.51). When the purpose is to make the other spouse-and-parent suffer, that’s IPV emotional abuse of the ex-spouse, using the child as the weapon.

Dr. Childress diagnoses child abuse when it is present.

Dr. Childress diagnoses IPV spousal abuse when it is present.

Do you forensic psychology?  In your child custody evaluations, do you diagnose a persecutory delusion in the child and a DSM-5 diagnosis of Child Psychological Abuse?  Do you diagnose the brutal and savage emotional abuse of the ex-spouse/targeted parent, the IPV spousal abuse of the ex-spouse, using the child as the weapon?

I do.

But you don’t.

Why not?  Why aren’t you diagnosing child abuse in your custody evaluations?  Why aren’t you diagnosing the persecutory delusion?  Why aren’t you protecting the child?  Why aren’t you diagnosing the brutal and savage emotional abuse of the ex-spouse/targeted parent, using the child as the weapon?

For 20,000 to 40,000 pieces of silver, you betray the parents who come to you to protect their children, for 20,000 to 40,000 pieces of silver you betray the child.

Why aren’t you diagnosing child abuse, why aren’t you diagnosing spousal abuse?

I do.  You don’t.

A treatment focused assessment of family pathology with a diagnosis and treatment plan costs around $2,500 and could be completed in four to six weeks.  This lower cost and better efficiency would allow a second opinion assessment and diagnosis to confirm the diagnosis if desired.  Two independent diagnoses could be returned in six to eight weeks at a cost of around $5,000.

Yet, forensic psychology, you cannot even produce a single diagnostic opinion in six to nine months, for a cost of $20,000 to $40,000. Why is that, forensic psychology? Why can’t you come up with a diagnostic opinion on the family conflict in less time and for less money?

I can.  We all can.  We do it all the time in clinical psychology.  All the time.

Clinical psychology can return a diagnosis and treatment plan for a limited-scope assessment of family pathology in six to eight weeks for about $2,500. What do you want an assessment for?  Autism?  ADHD?   School learning problems?  Juvenile justice problems?  Eating disorders and depression?  Anxiety disorders?  Trauma?  What?  Just tell us what you want the focus of assessment to be, and clinical psychology can return a diagnosis and treatment plan within four to six weeks for around $2,500.  Choose any pathology you’d like.

This one?  This court-involved family conflict?  Sure, we can do that.  A limited-scope clinical psychology assessment of the family conflict pathology for a diagnosis and treatment plan? – no problem.  Four to six weeks, for around $2,500.

So… what’s the presenting problem?  A child rejecting a parent.  That’s an attachment bonding pathology, a child rejecting a parent.  That could also extend into a child abuse pathology relative to the targeted-rejected parent.  Immediately, just from the referral presenting problem, we have possible child abuse as a differential diagnosis.  This is serious.  Trauma background and application is essential to the assessment and diagnosis.

Go on, is there any other potentially relevant information?  There is conflict surrounding child custody following divorce, and this is the primary issue that the court and family would like resolved.  Court involvement?  I now have two clients on the assessment, the child and the court.

Okay.  The custody conflict is a symptom.  It would strongly suggest a profound failure of parental empathy in at least one parent.  All it takes is one to create the conflict, sometimes two participate.  A profound failure of parental empathy is involved.

Surrounding divorce?  Divorce is rejection (abandonment), this will trigger narcissistic and borderline pathology into full activation.  Narcissistic and borderline pathology is extremely high-conflict, both personality pathologies also involve a profound failure in parental empathy, both are caused by unresolved childhood attachment trauma.  This is potentially a differential diagnosis of trans-generational transmission of attachment trauma from a narcissistic-borderline parent to the current family relationships in order to stabilize their own fragile self-structure and to work through their own unresolved childhood trauma issues.

If that’s the case, then we would potentially have a narcissistic-borderline parent using the child as a regulatory object to stabilize the parent’s own fragile self-structure which is collapsing in response to the rejection and abandonment inherent to divorce.

Okay.  We can assess that.  It’ll take about four to six weeks of clinical interviews with everyone involved, probably about six 90-minute clinical interviews will be enough, might be eight if there’s complex history or multiple child pathologies, such as the addition of autism or an eating disorder.

But for just that “rejection” attachment bonding pathology, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment plan… four to six weeks for about $2,500.  Here is the referral question we will accept on that (we always assess to answer the referral question):

Referral Question: Which parent is the source of pathogenic parenting creating the child’s attachment pathology, and what are the treatment implications?

Clinical psychology can answer that limited-scope treatment related question in about four to six weeks for about $2,500.

So… forensic psychology… why does it take you six to nine months and $20,000 to $40,000 to return no diagnosis and no treatment plan… and to solve nothing?

Does the child have a persecutory delusion, forensic psychology?  Did you even look?

Is this IPV spousal abuse of the targeted parent?  Do you even care?

Or do you simply do what you do, your child custody evaluation procedures, not looking, not caring.  A betrayal of your obligation to protect the child.  A betrayal of your obligation to protect the parent.

What’s it cost now days, betrayal?  What’s the going price for that?  20,000 to 40,000 pieces of silver?

Hardly seems worth it.

I diagnose child abuse,  I protect children.

I diagnose the brutal and savage emotional abuse of the ex-spouse using the child as the weapon.

Do you?

Craig Childress, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist, PSY 18857