Yes, an easy and effective way IS to delineate them as conjunctions, because they are so like connctions in fact (and the contra's can be looked at as if oppositions, only here there is some significant historical disagreement about whether contra-parallels are like oppositions or not; personally I do not use the contra's, however the majority of practitioners, who look at declinations, consider contra's as if oppositions)
Look up the internet references to the works of K.T. Boehrer for further elaboration of declinations, and the book by L. Westin entitled "Beyond the Solstice by Declination", is an excellent further-study guide (this book is available from various internet vendors, including astroamerica.com)
I consider Parallels so important, that the first thing I always look at in a chart (natal, event, mundane charts) is the table of declinations for that chart (available as the free pdf supplement for the astro.com charts); only after I have determined any extant Parallels, do I then go to the longitudinal conjunctions and aspects (ie the "regular" aspects), house and sign placements, etc, of the chart.
