Using Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy / Factitious Disorder by Proxy and Parental Alienation as exmplars, this book advances a new diagnostic category for addressing complex pathological phenomena that integrates individual characteristics and symptoms, family as well as other system dynamics, under one diagnosis.

The author examines why current diagnostic categories within the DSM-5 are inadequate and provides a framework for this new category-Interrelated Multidimensional Diagnosis-to better capture the complexity of MSBP / FDBP and Parental Alienation. The book begins with case studies and other examples to make the material accessible, and then proposes step-wise processes of examining family systems to determine if the phenomena exist to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty. After new diagnostic process and criteria are provided, several interventions and recommendations for treatment are offered in a novel way that attends to the core aspects of these pathologies.

This text will provide practitioners, professionals, and researchers with a unique vantage point from which to understand and treat these pathologies.

About the Author

Michael R. Butz, PhD, is a licensed psychologist in Montana who specializes in forensics with Aspen Practice, P.C., and clinical and neuropsychology at St. Vincent Healthcare. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association's Society of Clinical Psychology and recipient of numerous awards from APA's Provincial and Territorial Psychological Association Affairs Division (31). Dr. Butz has been best known for his previous work on nonlinear dynamics as the author of Chaos and Complexity: Implications for Psychological Theory and Practice (1997) and as coauthor of Strange Attractors: Chaos, Complexity and the Art of Family Therapy (1997) and Clinical Chaos: A Therapist's Guide to Nonlinear Dynamics and Therapeutic Change (Routledge, 1998).

Reviews

"Butz integrates a wide breadth of theory and knowledge for this valuable contribution to the expanding literature on parental alienation and factitious disorder by proxy. Butz elucidates a model derived from systems theory to situate both phenomena within the overarching construct of interrelated multidimensional diagnoses. This model provides a multi-tiered framework that accommodates categorical and dimensional aspects of individual and family system dynamics. Thought-provoking and sure to generate additional scholarship and debate in the field."

Richard A. Warshak, PhD, author of Divorce Poison: How To Protect Your Family From Bad-mouthing and Brainwashing. He is a former Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and best known for his expertise and publications on child custody, shared parenting, and parental alienation.

"By taking the whole of the pathological dynamics that create Factitious Disorder by Proxy and Parental Alienation, Michael Butz has provided an unflinching set of challenges to our healthcare and legal systems in a creative and thoughtful read. This book is a potent reminder of the intrafamilial dynamics that can affect families."

Ted Epperly, MD, President and CEO Family Medicine Residency of Idaho; Clinical Professor University of Washington School of Medicine; Past President and Board Chair American Academy of Family Physicians.

"In his newest book, Michael Butz has taken yet another important step in bringing the critical importance of complexity this time to the literature on parent alienation. In doing so, he goes well beyond the subject into a seminal discussion on diagnosis that is lightyears ahead of current thinking."

F. Barton Evans, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (ret.) East Tennessee State University. He has also coauthored Forensic Psychological Assessment in Immigration Court and The Handbook for Forensic Rorschach Assessment.

"Michael Butz has transformed the understanding of how illness can be transferred in a brilliant new paradigm that is relevant to healers in all facets of clinical work and challenges existing notions that continue to pathologize children and families. Providers in the psychological arena will be given a new insight into the meaning of transference in the therapeutic relationship as Butz delineates modern ways of diagnosing and treating a serious ailment that has collective ramifications."

Eduardo Duran, PhD, clinical psychologist and author of Healing the Soul Wound: Counseling with American Indians and Other Native Peoples, Buddha in Redface, and coauthor of Native American Postcolonial Psychology.

"Dr. Butz has done a great service for the field of psychology and beyond. In this masterful text, he provides both historical context and a philosophical/epistemological knowledge-base which is unparalleled in the literature. Further, he has a unique sense of psychopathology and aptly uses metaphors, case studies, and examples to reach his cogent conclusion that, in order to affect real change, IMD dynamics require policies, procedures, and action across healthcare, legal, and governmental spheres of influence. Clinicians, researchers, caseworkers, and those within the court system will find this text to be of enormous heuristic and applied value. I strongly urge you to read it, process it, and use it. It is a real winner!"

Philip Bornstein, PhD, clinical psychologist and former Professor at University of Montana, Missoula with over 150 papers and publications. Coauthor of Marital Therapy: A behavioral Communications Approach and coeditor of The Handbook of Clinical Behavior Therapy with Children.

"Butz integrates a wide breadth of theory and knowledge for this valuable contribution to the expanding literature on Parental Alienation and Factitious Disorder by Proxy. Butz elucidates a model derived from systems theory to situate both phenomena within the overarching construct of interrelated multidimensional diagnoses. This model provides a multi-tiered framework that accommodates categorical and dimensional aspects of individual and family system dynamics. Thought-provoking and sure to generate additional scholarship and debate in the field."

Richard A. Warshak, PhD, author of Divorce Poison: How To Protect Your Family From Bad-mouthing and Brainwashing. He is a former clinical professor of Psychiatry at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and best known for his expertise and publications on child custody, shared parenting, and Parental Alienation

"By taking on the whole of the pathological dynamics that create Factitious Disorder by Proxy and Parental Alienation, Michael Butz has provided an unflinching set of challenges to our healthcare and legal systems in a creative and thoughtful read. This book is a potent reminder of the intrafamilial dynamics that can affect families."

Ted Epperly, MD, President and CEO, Family Medicine Residency of Idaho; Clinical Professor, University of Washington School of Medicine; Past President and Board Chair, American Academy of Family Physicians

"In his newest book, Michael Butz has taken yet another important step in bringing the critical importance of complex interactions, this time to the literature on parent alienation. In doing so, he goes well beyond the subject into a seminal discussion on diagnosis that is lightyears ahead of current thinking."

F. Barton Evans, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (ret.), East Tennessee State University. He has also coauthored Forensic Psychological Assessment in Immigration Court and The Handbook of Forensic Rorschach Assessment

"Michael Butz has transformed the understanding of how illness can be transferred in a brilliant new paradigm that is relevant to healers in all facets of clinical work and challenges existing notions that continue to pathologize children and families. Providers in the psychological arena will be given a new insight into the meaning of transference in the therapeutic relationship as Butz delineates modern ways of diagnosing and treating a serious ailment that has collective ramifications."

Eduardo Duran, PhD, clinical psychologist and author of Healing the Soul Wound: Counseling with American Indians and Other Native Peoples, Buddha in Redface, and coauthor of Native American Postcolonial Psychology

"Dr. Butz has done a great service for the field of psychology and beyond. In this masterful text, he provides both historical context and a philosophical/epistemological knowledge-base which is unparalleled in the literature. Further, he has a unique sense of psychopathology and aptly uses metaphors, case studies, and examples to reach his cogent conclusion that, in order to affect real change, IMD dynamics require policies, procedures, and action across healthcare, legal, and governmental spheres of influence. Clinicians, researchers, caseworkers, and those within the court system will find this text to be of enormous heuristic and applied value. I strongly urge you to read it, process it, and use it. It is a real winner!"

Philip Bornstein, PhD, clinical psychologist and former Professor at University of Montana, Missoula, with over 150 papers and publications. Coauthor of Marital Therapy: A Behavioral Communications Approach and coeditor of The Handbook of Clinical Behavior Therapy with Children

Book Information
ISBN 9780367345815
Author Michael R. Butz
Format Paperback
Page Count 314
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g