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Revision as of 01:09, 18 April 2005 by Markruffolo (talk | contribs) (→Further Reading: added SPARC link)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Richar Gardner, M.D. defines parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is "a childhood disorder that arises almost exclusively in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary manifestation is the child’s campaign of denigration against a parent, a campaign that has no justification. It results from the combination of a programming (brainwashing) parent’s indoctrinations and the child’s own contributions to the vilification of the target parent. When true parental abuse and/or neglect is present, the child’s animosity may be justified and so the parental alienation syndrome explanation for the child’s hostility is not applicable." (Gardner, 1985).
Inclusion to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ("DSM") has begun. This is a compilation of the "scientifically accepted" psychiatric diagnoses complied by the American Psychiatric Association. Missing from this compilation is Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) (which on its acceptance would be called a "disorder" rather than a "syndrome").
What are those symptoms you should identify? They are well documented in many of the articles in the FACT PAS section, but as a quick reminder:
- The Campaign of Denigration: the child has a campaign against the target parent
- Weak, Frivolous, or Absurd Rationalizations for the Depreciation: the problems the child quote are absurd or inappropriate for the reaction, eg. target parent chews too loudly, target parent is the devil's spawn
- Lack of Ambivalence: no half-way mark to the animosity -- it is simply full bore
- The "Independent-Thinker" Phenomenon: the child feels that all this thought and emotion is their own idea and that no-one else had anything to do with their thoughts
- Reflexive Support of the Alienating Parent in the Parental Conflict: the alienating parent can do no wrong, and there is never a need to question that
- Absence of Guilt Over Cruelty to and/or Exploitation of the Alienated Parent: no feeling that abusing the target parent has any sort of wrongness to it
- Presence of Borrowed Scenarios: use of what are obviously other people's memories in creating the hateful thoughts, e.g. quoting instances that before the child was born or was very young, that the child never saw, or that never happened
- Spread of the Animosity to the Extended Family and Friends of the Alienated Parent: involvement of all of the target parent's family.
Court rulings recognizing the Parental Alienation Syndrome in twenty-two states of the US and Internationally.