ABSTRACT
The divorce itself and the remarriage of the care-giving parent are the most frequent triggers of the initial appearance of symptoms which induce parents to take their children to child psychiatrists. One of initial hypotheses was that the greater the intensity and quality of the attachment relationship to the father, the more devastating the divorce experience would be for the child. The “triangulation function” fulfilled by the father can disappear in part or entirely through the divorce. When the father-child relationship is interrupted or the child panics at the prospect of losing his or her father, the child becomes completely dependent on the mother, which opens the door for hitherto latent conflicts with her to become acute. Parents often believe that a child would suffer less from the divorce if he or she could understand the reasons for the separation.
