Psychological Experts in Divorce Actions, Fifth Edition

Emotionally charged issues abound in matrimonial practice, especially in custody disputes. Expert testimony can have a dramatic impact on the outcome of a case, and when matters are highly sensitive or sensational the seeming objectivity of an expert can be dispositive. To effectively reinforce or question that testimony, certain specialized knowledge is essential. Scientifically accepted standards and theories are constantly evolving. Keeping up with the data had been a challenge, but one integrated resource has made it simple.

Psychological Experts in Divorce Actions, Fifth Edition pulls all the research together into the definitive guide to understanding the role of psychological evaluations in divorce and custody actions. Focused on providing the best approach to protecting your client’s interests, this work explains all the leading testing instruments, what conclusions may be drawn and how to challenge or support those conclusions. In addition to offering effective examination and cross-examination strategies, it assists you in handling the gamut of psychological factors that affect clients in divorce and custody cases.

Authors Marc J. Ackerman, Ph.D., and Andrew W. Kane, Ph.D., are licensed psychologists who have been involved in hundreds of custody cases. Drawing on their extensive experience—testing parties to a divorce and treating psychological patients in the clinic—and as psychological experts in the courtroom, they identify the most important psychological evaluation research used in divorce and custody decision-making and distill the information into clear terms lawyers can readily apply. They also examine vital issues including:

• Ethics—confidentiality, privilege, duty to warn or protect (Tarasoff), sharing raw data, test integrity
• Sexual abuse—bona fide or fabricated allegations, psychological effects of sexual abuse, profiles of abuser and abused
• Testing—personality tests (including MMPI-2, and the new MMPI-2-RF, Rorschach,Millon,TAT); intelligence tests (Wechsler scales,Kaufman scales, Stanford Binet); custody tests (ASPECT, PCRI, PASS, BPS); and many more
• How divorce affects families—custody, placement, age and gender differences, grandparents, sexual preference, psychological problems

1. The Expert Witness
2. Ethical Issues
3. What Constitutes a Psychological Evaluation?
4. How Divorce Affects Families
5. Do’s and Don’t’s for Divorce Clients
6. Children as Witnesses
7. Statistical Concepts
8. Intelligence Testing
9. Objective Personality Testing: MMPI-2, MMPI-2-RF, and Other Objective Personality Tests
10. Projective Personality Testing
11. Other Tests Used in Child Custody Evaluations
12. Physical Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Emotional Abuse
13. Sexual Abuse
14. Special Concerns: Mental Disorders
15. Special Concerns: Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse
16. Criminal History
17. Classification Systems