We propose a scheme for extracting an effective three-body interaction originating from a two-nucleon interaction. This is based on the Q-box method of Kuo and collaborators, where folded diagrams are obtained by differentiating a sum of non-folded diagrams with respect to the starting energy. To gain insight we have studied several examples using the Lipkin model where the perturbative approach can be compared with exact results. Numerically the three-body interactions can be significant and in a matrix example good accuracy was not obtained simultaneously for both eigenvalues with two-body interactions alone.

9 pages, Revtex4, 7 figs, submitted to PRC