Improved
6112 HealthChanged
3786 LivesSaved
3568 Lives0 lives impacted in the last 24 hrs Learn More
There are many possible disorders and syndromes that are not officially recognized by the American Psychological Association and are not featured in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, but that doesn’t mean people don’t suffer from these issues.
Two unofficially recognized psychological issues that come to mind are Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) and Parental Alienation (PA).
The differences between the two are that Parental Alienation deals with “abusive behaviors of a parent” and Parental Alienation Syndrome deals with “the possible effects of PA on the child,” according to Sarvy Emo, the treasurer and founder of Parental Alienation Awareness Organization (PAAO).
Parental Alienation is the “mental manipulation and/or bullying of children, which can result in destroying a loving and warm relationship they once shared with a parent,” according to the PAAO website.
This includes one parent targeting another through alienation and encouraging the child to do so as well. The whole purpose is to gain control and hurt the other parent, while sometimes a parent is alienated out of fear of losing a child or children. This type of scenario is usually seen during separation or divorce.
The result is Parental Alienation Syndrome, where the child avoids and hates the other parent for little or no reason.
The term Parental Alienation Syndrome was coined in the 1980s by Richard Gardner, and Parental Alienation characteristics have been noted in some court cases from the 1800s, Emo said in an e-mail.
The main reason why the APA hasn’t considered PA or PAS as official diagnoses is because there is not enough data to support these disorders/syndromes.
“Since 1996 there [has] been a ton of research on the subject and I believe the DSM is now considering entering Parental Alienation Disorder into the book, though it has not been decided either way,” Emo said.
Sol Rappaport, a clinical and forensic psychologist in Illinois, is working on a paper on parental alienation.
In a statement, he said, "My view is that most people, including professionals, do not fully understand the dynamics of it and how to assess for it. I do believe Parental Alienation exists, although to argue that it is a syndrome is debatable. I have been working on an article regarding this. Parental alienation usually occurs due to a variety of dynamics between people, not just one parent doing something to a child that hurts the other parent’s relationship with that child. I do not believe that removing the child from the alienating parent is the automatic response to alienation occurring."
Merri Tiseth, the legal advocacy hotline program manager for the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence, says that Parental Alienation Syndrome is not recognized as a syndrome, and she hasn’t seen any real cases, except where the “syndrome” or alienation is used inappropriately.
“Our primary calls are from survivors of domestic abuse,” Tiseth said. “Domestic abuse survivors experience allegations of parental alienation when claims of abuse have been raised. The other party, or their attorney or the court or a custody evaluator or someone at times can say that that parent is alienating the children and there was no actual abuse when that is not the case.”
False allegations of parental alienation syndrome or parental alienation can lead to children ending up with an abusing parent in some cases, according to a paper from Joan S. Meier, the founder and executive director of the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP), and a press release from the National Network to End Domestic Violence Fund (NNEDV).
Emo said that in cases where there is a physically or sexually abusive parent, the child usually doesn’t “fully hate” that parent and “make[s] excuses for their behavior or tr[ies] to take blame for what happened.”
“Children of PAS will obsessively hate their rejected parent,” she said.
If there are real cases of PA and PAS, Emo said that not only the child can be at stake, but the alienated parent also suffers.
“They need to make sure they have a strong support network around them as many commit suicide or fall into deep depression because of PA/S,” she said.
There are several books in favor of PAS and PA, including one by Amy Baker, a developmental psychologist, called “Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Breaking the Ties that Bind.” For more information in support of or against PAS and PA, look at sources below.
Sources:
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/info/custody-abuse/parental-alienation/quotes-by-richard-gardner
http://paawareness.org/what-is-pa.asp
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/info/custody-abuse/parental-alienation/parental-alienation-syndrome-and-parental-alienation
http://www.law.gwu.edu/faculty/profile.aspx?id=6014
http://www.dvleap.org/Programs/CustodyAbuseProject.aspx
http://www.nnedv.org/news/nnedv/183-pas-press-release.html
http://www.now.org/issues/family/050307pas.html
http://www.blended-families.com/stephero/baldwin-parental-alienation.php
http://www.warshak.com/
http://www.amyjlbaker.com/
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/pas/faq.htm
http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/ConditionsProposedbyOutsideSources.aspx
Add a Comment12 Comments
I thank Ms. Weaver for summarizing some of the pros and cons regarding the proposal that parental alienation disorder be included in DSM. If you want more information, you can read the actual proposal in a recent article, "Parental Alienation, DSM-V, and ICD-11, which was published in The American Journal of Family Therapy 38(2), March/April 2010.
June 15, 2010 - 7:28pmThis Comment
I have personally experienced this. My ex-husband has completely brainwashed our children to eliminate and delete me. They refuse to see me, or answer any of my attempts to communicate with them. I paid for their college tuition, but they prevented me from going to the graduation ceremony. I don't even know if they read my emails - they may simply delete them without reading them. They stopped answering their phones and never returned my calls. When I attempted to discuss this with their dad, he denied it or became verbally hostile with me.
June 15, 2010 - 4:30pmThis is a horrible, abusive and evil behavior, and without supportive friends and family, I would not have survived. I still after several years have days when I can't stop crying. Some people don't understand - and it is very frustrating when they "preach" or "counsel" about "moving on" - as if I haven't...
I have "moved on" as best I can - but that does NOT mean I have forgotten my children! I can't forget them! But I have also had to accept the almost fact, that I may NEVER see or hear from them again, because the information and research does seem to indicate that the older they get and the longer it goes, they are less likely to ever reconnect...
This Comment