TY - JOUR
T1 - Child Affected by Parental Relationship Distress
AU - Bernet, William
AU - Wamboldt, Marianne Z.
AU - Narrow, William E.
N1 - Funding Information:
Disclosure: Dr. Bernet has received royalties from Charles C Thomas Publisher and Krieger Publishing Co. He has received an honorarium for presenting at the 12th Annual Seminar in Forensic Sciences, South Padre Island, Texas. He has been paid for testifying as an expert witness in child forensic psychiatry. Dr. Wamboldt has received royalties from APA Press and Springer Press. She has received funding from a research grant from Pfizer, Inc. Dr. Narrow reports no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
PY - 2016/7/1
Y1 - 2016/7/1
N2 - Objective A new condition, “child affected by parental relationship distress” (CAPRD), was introduced in the DSM-5. A relational problem, CAPRD is defined in the chapter of the DSM-5 under “Other Conditions That May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention.” The purpose of this article is to explain the usefulness of this new terminology. Method A brief review of the literature establishing that children are affected by parental relationship distress is presented. To elaborate on the clinical presentations of CAPRD, four common scenarios are described in more detail: children may react to parental intimate partner distress; to parental intimate partner violence; to acrimonious divorce; and to unfair disparagement of one parent by another. Reactions of the child may include the onset or exacerbation of psychological symptoms, somatic complaints, an internal loyalty conflict, and, in the extreme, parental alienation, leading to loss of a parent–child relationship. Results Since the definition of CAPRD in the DSM-5 consists of only one sentence, the authors propose an expanded explanation, clarifying that children may develop behavioral, cognitive, affective, and physical symptoms when they experience varying degrees of parental relationship distress, that is, intimate partner distress and intimate partner violence, which are defined with more specificity and reliability in the DSM-5. Conclusion CAPRD, like other relational problems, provides a way to define key relationship patterns that appear to lead to or exacerbate adverse mental health outcomes. It deserves the attention of clinicians who work with youth, as well as researchers assessing environmental inputs to common mental health problems.
AB - Objective A new condition, “child affected by parental relationship distress” (CAPRD), was introduced in the DSM-5. A relational problem, CAPRD is defined in the chapter of the DSM-5 under “Other Conditions That May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention.” The purpose of this article is to explain the usefulness of this new terminology. Method A brief review of the literature establishing that children are affected by parental relationship distress is presented. To elaborate on the clinical presentations of CAPRD, four common scenarios are described in more detail: children may react to parental intimate partner distress; to parental intimate partner violence; to acrimonious divorce; and to unfair disparagement of one parent by another. Reactions of the child may include the onset or exacerbation of psychological symptoms, somatic complaints, an internal loyalty conflict, and, in the extreme, parental alienation, leading to loss of a parent–child relationship. Results Since the definition of CAPRD in the DSM-5 consists of only one sentence, the authors propose an expanded explanation, clarifying that children may develop behavioral, cognitive, affective, and physical symptoms when they experience varying degrees of parental relationship distress, that is, intimate partner distress and intimate partner violence, which are defined with more specificity and reliability in the DSM-5. Conclusion CAPRD, like other relational problems, provides a way to define key relationship patterns that appear to lead to or exacerbate adverse mental health outcomes. It deserves the attention of clinicians who work with youth, as well as researchers assessing environmental inputs to common mental health problems.
KW - child affected by parental relationship distress
KW - intimate partner distress
KW - intimate partner violence
KW - loyalty conflict
KW - parental alienation
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jaac.2016.04.018
DO - 10.1016/j.jaac.2016.04.018
M3 - Review article
C2 - 27343884
AN - SCOPUS:84988843912
SN - 0890-8567
VL - 55
SP - 571
EP - 579
JO - Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
JF - Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
IS - 7
ER -