About this course

Learning Objectives

• Identify warning signs, behavioral patterns, and clinical risk factors associated with high-conflict personalities, including their overlap with personality disorders and implications for assessment and treatment.
• Explain the neurological and psychological processes associated with high-conflict behavior, including amygdala activation, threat perception, emotional regulation, reactive versus logical processing, and emotional contagion.
• Analyze the influence of emotional activation, the Five Core Fears, and negative advocates on client behavior, interpersonal relationships, and therapeutic interactions.
• Apply The CARS Method® and related communication strategies, including EAR Statements™ and the BIFF Response® method, to manage challenging clinical interactions, reduce escalation, and maintain therapeutic effectiveness.
• Demonstrate strategies for setting appropriate therapeutic boundaries, establishing limits, imposing consequences, and responding to client resistance while maintaining professional and ethical standards.
• Identify methods for teaching clients emotional regulation, communication, problem-solving, and behavior-management skills to improve their ability to manage themselves and navigate high-conflict relationships.
• Differentiate among domestic violence, child abuse, parental alienation, estrangement, and other parent-child contact problems, including the effects of intimate partner violence on children and implications for clinical assessment and intervention.
• Evaluate the roles, responsibilities, and professional boundaries of mental health practitioners involved in court-related and forensic matters, including documentation, reporting, and interactions with legal professionals.
• Analyze ethical obligations, standards of care, professional liability, and common malpractice risks associated with treating high-conflict clients and participating in legal proceedings.
• Develop risk-management strategies to maintain clinical objectivity, address challenging client dynamics, document clinical decisions, uphold professional accountability, and reduce potential ethical and legal exposure.

Learning Levels

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq

  Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq., is a licensed clinical social worker, lawyer, mediator, author, and co-founder and Director of Innovation at the High Conflict Institute. With more than 12 years of clinical experience, Bill is a pioneer in the study of High-Conflict Personalities (HCPs) and has developed structured methods to help professionals recognize and respond effectively to persistent patterns of high-conflict behavior.

  His work focuses on the intersection of personality patterns, emotional dysregulation, interpersonal conflict, and professional decision-making. He has trained mental health, legal, and organizational professionals across 35+ states and 13 countries in practical approaches for reducing escalation, maintaining therapeutic and professional boundaries, improving communication, and managing challenging interactions involving high-conflict behavior.

  Bill’s professional experience includes 15 years as a Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center, certification as a Family Law Specialist by the State Bar of California, and service on the faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law. He also served as a Conjoint Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle Law School in Australia.

  Bill is the author of more than 25 books, including 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life, It’s All Your Fault!, BIFF Response, and Splitting. His Psychology Today blog has received more than 6 million views, and he co-hosts the podcast It’s All Your Fault! with Megan Hunter.

Disclosure

References

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