Jim is 14 years old and was recently suspended from school for repeated incidents of physical aggression with his peers. Jim's parents brought him to therapy to help him learn better ways of "managing his anger". During the initial interview, Jim's parents admitted that their relationship has been turbulent for the past 5 years, and they have been verbally and physically aggressive with each other. They also reported that in the past two years, they have regularly told Jim that he was stupid and problematic, mostly because they're "at their wits end" and "don't know what to do with him". Jim stated during a recent therapy session that when his mother and father argue, he feels like his mother puts a lot of pressure on him to align with her and reject his father. Jim's mother is

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

forming a triangle with Jim, leaving Jim's father excluded from the dyad of Jim and Jim's mother