Triangulation

In a pattern of triangulation, the child may feel caught in the middle of a parental dispute, and torn between parents. As the child gets drawn into the conflict of coalition with one parent against the other, tension and conflict tends to increase between the parents and other family members; alternatively children become the target of abuse from the excluded parent. 

Triangulation or triangling is defined in the AAMFT Family Therapy Glossary as the “process that occurs when a third person is introduced into a dyadic relationship to balance either excessive intimacy, conflict, or distance and provide stability in the system.”