![]() It is often up to lawyers to spot when their client has been a victim of this type of psychological abuse, with the tell-tale signs including a constant undermining of the client’s mental health by their partner and a clear misrepresentation of the facts to suit their agenda. All a judge will be concerned about is whether the behaviour of any parent (irrelevant of any label that can be applied) is such that it should be taken into account when assessing how much they should spend with their children (or in some cases whether they should see them at all). Solicitors, barristers and judges will not be making any diagnoses: this would be the preserve of a trained mental health professional. There are challenges to clients who want to make allegations that their partner is a narcissist. ![]() It is rather that the likelihood of such actions rearing their ugly head is increased. This is not to say that all narcissists will necessarily exhibit such behaviour, nor that those who do are necessarily narcissists. On the more extreme end of the scale, this can take the form of a party effectively brainwashing their child(ren) to make accusations of serious sexual or physical assault against the other parent. Another reason for such behaviour is that the narcissist feels that the questioning of their authority within proceedings is an affront to their warped sensibilities something to be dealt with in the harshest possible terms. Coercive control as well as emotional and psychological abuse are commonplace, as is the coaching of children to speak ill of the submissive parent, usually in order to assist the narcissist in being awarded favourable terms for contact. In terms of how these characteristics might manifest themselves in the context of family law, those who experience Narcissistic Personality Disorder are at a higher risk of mistreating their partners and children. The symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder include but are not limited to obsessive behaviour, delusions of grandeur, a lack of empathy for others, heightened emotions in the face of being challenged and a calculated manipulation of others. In line with trends in society at large, the number of clients we see who seek to explain their partner’s undesirable characteristics by a diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is increasing at a steady rate.
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