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TRENDS IN STATE COURTS TRENDS IN STATE COURTS
Parental Alienation Can Be Emotional Child Abuse
Parental Alienation vs.
Parental Alienation Syndrome
Parental alienation is frequently confused with the
parental alienation syndrome (PAS). Dr. Richard Gardner,
an American psychiatrist who died in 2003, coined the
phrase “parental alienation syndrome” in 1985 and
wrote extensively about it. He defined the syndrome as:
a childhood disorder that arises almost
exclusively in the context of child-custody
disputes. It is a disorder in which children,
programmed by the allegedly “loved” parent,
embark upon a campaign of denigration of
the allegedly “hated” parent. The children
exhibit little if any ambivalence over their
hatred, which often spreads to the extended
family of the allegedly despised parent
(“Recommendations for Dealing with Parents
Who Induce a Parental Alienation Syndrome
in Their Children,” Journal of Divorce and
Remarriage 28, nos. 3-4 [1998]).
Gardner used the term “syndrome” because of his
medical background. A syndrome is a cluster of related
symptoms. Syndromes are generally discouraged as
evidence in court because they refer to symptoms from
a collection of individuals, while the court is only
concerned with those individuals who have standing
for the matter before the court.
For Gardner, the syndrome describes the child’s
campaign of denigration against one of their parents—
a campaign that is encouraged by the other parent.
It should be noted that there is no PAS when abuse or
neglect is present. PAS can only be applicable when the
“hated” parent has not abused or neglected the child
or exhibited any behavior that would justify the child’s
animosity toward that parent.
While PAS identifies a problem in the child (“a childhood
disorder”), parental alienation identifies a collection of
one parent’s behaviors aimed at causing the child to
become alienated from the other parent. Children can
become alienated from a parent for a variety of reasons,
such as sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse,
parental abandonment, adult alcoholism, narcissism, and
other reasons. Sometimes, a child may become alienated
from the parent who initiated the divorce, blaming that
parent for breaking up the family. But while these
reasons may explain why the child is alienated from the
parent, none would qualify as descriptors for parental
alienation. Parental alienation is a strategy whereby one
parent intentionally displays to the child unjustified
negativity aimed at the other parent. The purpose of
this strategy is to damage the child’s relationship with
the other parent and to turn the child’s emotions against
that other parent. This strategy has been called a
“head-trip game” (see Ken Lewis, Child Custody Evaluations
by Social Workers: Understanding the Five Stages of Custody
[Washington, DC: NASW Press, 2009], p. 44).
Parental alienation is a particular family dynamic that
can emerge during divorce in which the child becomes
excessively hostile and rejecting of one parent. This
hostility can involve transgenerational dynamics about
which evaluators and family court judges should be aware.
The remainder of this article presents:
• a list of the various descriptors that identify
parental alienation;
• the possible effects on the children;
• parental alienation as a form of emotional
child abuse;
• the ways that courts have responded to
parental alienation; and
• 10 tips for family court judges.
Parental Alienation Syndrome
can only be applicable when
the “hated” parent has not
abused or neglected the child
or exhibited any behavior
that would justify the child’s
animosity toward that parent.