COPING WITH PARENT’S DIVORCE: INTEGRATIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY INTERVENTION FOR CONFLICTUAL DIVORCED COUPLES AND ITS IMPACT ON CHILD-PARENT RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

Objectives. The effectiveness of a therapeutic approach for the divorced parents (on an individual level as well as on the couple) was studied; the therapeutic process was aimed at improving the connection between parents and, subsequently, the child-parent relationship. Material and methods. The study includes five divorced couples that have been submitted to psychological evaluation at the request of the legal system of Romania, between 2019-2020. Both the children and the parental dyad have been evaluated in relation with awarding custody, in cases with moderate to high level of parental conflict – the cases had in common the child’s rejection of one of the parents. For the parents’ evaluation, Parenting History Survey, Parental Stress Index, Parental Competency Questionnaire and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire have been used, together with a checklist of child’s rejecting behaviors towards one of the parents. Following evaluation, the parents have been included in a psychological intervention program, consisting of individual sessions and sessions for the parental dyad. The inclusion criteria have been: conflictual parental relation, no psychiatric pathology of parents and absence of pre-divorce parental abuse history. Results. The results have shown that the couples tended to improve their capacity to respect the children’s program of personal interaction with the other parent and that the frequency of rejecting behaviors toward the other parent diminished. Conclusions. Children’s post-divorce adjustment is strongly impacted by the quality of the parental relationship and this, in turn, can be improved by specialized therapeutic intervention. Developing an intervention program adapted to the post-divorce needs of the family helps children in integrating the divorce and preserving their emotional balance. Keywords: divorce, co-parenting, parental conflict, custody, parental interventions.