title: Divorce and child custody resolution: conflicting legal and psychological paradigms.
abstract: The resolution of divorce conflict, especially the determination of child custody, is a major social policy concern of both the legal and mental health professions. The differences between the adversarial and mediation legal approaches parallel the phenomenological/psychoanalytic and the family therapy models of the mental health field. A philosophical and practical relationship exists uniting the adversarial and phenomenological/psychoanalytic traditions, while mediation is strongly aligned with family systems theory and therapy. Each paradigm offers American families alternative methods of resolving disputes. A greater synthesis of paradigms is required to give effective help to divorcing couples and their children.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002651:Child Advocacy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D002665:Child Psychiatry; D002668:Child Rearing; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004243:Divorce; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy; D011570:Psychiatry; D011640:Public Policy; D013598:Systems Theory; D014481:United States