Abstract
This commentary examines and expands upon Smyth and Moloney's descriptions of the challenges divorce practitioners face when attempting to establish working relationships with parents who display entrenched hatred. It is helpful for divorce practitioners to hold in mind two perspectives on entrenched hatred: one as a destructive hindrance to the goal of protecting children from exposure to parental conflict and the other as an emotion fulfilling urgent psychologically self‐protective and self‐enhancing functions for the parent in its grips. In seeking to form working relationships with such parents, it is helpful for divorce practitioners to understand these psychological needs of the parents without colluding with them. Practical implications for designing effective interventions stem from these understandings.
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