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Parental Alienation and Parental Alienation Syndrome
Before one begins to ridicule and take a dogmatic position to violently oppose the scientific validity and reality of Parental Alienation Syndrome or PAS, a disorder discovered in the 1980's and coined by the internationally recognized Child Psychiatrist, Richard A. Gardner, M.D. (1931-2003), let us consider the words of one of the greatest philosophers of the 19th century, Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), who stated, "All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second it is violently opposed. Third it is accepted as self-evident."
Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) in a Nutshell – What is Parental Alienation Syndrome or PAS?
In 1985, Dr. Richard A. Gardner coined the term Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). He used this term to describe a disorder that arises primarily in the context of child custody disputes, and its’ primary manifestation is the child's campaign of denigration against a parent, and is a campaign that has no justification.
According to Dr. Gardner, Parental Alienation Syndrome is a disorder made up of a combination of two contributing factors, (1) programming ("brainwashing") of the child by one parent to denigrate the other parent, and (2) self-created contributions by the child in support of the alienating parent's campaign of denigration against the alienated parent.
However, according to Dr. Gardner, the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) disorder is not applicable nor a valid explanation in cases where true child abuse and/or neglect is present because the child's animosity and/or hostility towards the target parent may be justified.
Parental Alienation (PA) in a Nutshell – What is Parental Alienation or PA?
According to Dr. Gardner, Parental Alienation (PA) is a more general term, whereas the Parental Alienation Syndrome is a very specific subtype of Parental Alienation. Parental Alienation has many causes, e.g., parental neglect, abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual), abandonment, and other alienating parental behaviors. All of these behaviors on the part of a parent can produce alienation in the children.
Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) vs. Parental Alienation (PA)
The Parental Alienation Syndrome is a specific subcategory of Parental Alienation that results from a combination of (1) parental programming ("brainwashing") and (2) the child's own contributions, and it is almost exclusively seen in the context of child-custody disputes.
As Dr. Douglass Darnall points out, Parental Alienation focuses on the parent’s behavior, whereas the Parental Alienation Syndrome focuses on the child's behavior and the child's unjustifiable campaign of denigration towards target parent.
» Click here for a Letter from Richard A. Gardner re: How You can Help Support the Inclusion of PAS in DSM-V
Although it appears that there are many Woman's Organizations rallying together in support of the Breaking the Silence film and many Father's Rights groups opposing it, from my experience PAS is not a gender issue so much as it is a behavioral issue exhibited by both bitter mothers and fathers in the context of custody disputes. Any attempt to discredit the existence of parental alienation as a behavior in the context of custody disputes is not supported on any account. What I find most interesting is that an equal number, if not more, mothers have written to me about concerns of PAS in their custody situation as opposed to fathers. Nevertheless, parental alienation still remains to be an epidemic in the context of custody disputes in the family courts and this destructive behavior continues to be an assault on innocent children's mental and emotional well being to satisfy the emotional needs of a self-seeking and self-centered parent.
In the United States, many states have adopted The Frye Test as the standard by which a court can determine whether a scientific contribution has gained enough general acceptance in the Scientific Community to be admissible in a court of law.
Other States have adopted ether The Daubert Test as their standard, or have substituted their own standards and thus, have their own "test".
In Canada, The Mohan Test is applied to assess admissibility. It is more stringent than The Frye Test in that it employs more criteria than Frye.
The Future of the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS)
How You can Help Support the Inclusion of PAS in DSM-V
As Dr. Richard A. Gardner stated, "Parental Alienation Syndrome is not listed in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Critics of PAS are quick to point this out and consider its absence to support arguments that PAS doesn't exist.
The facts are that DSM-IV was published in 1994. When committees were meeting in the early 1990s, there were too few articles in peer-review journals, and too few legal rulings in courts of law that had recognized PAS, to warrant a submission.
Accordingly, I (Richard A. Gardner, M.D.) did not submit a proposal at that time. Nor, to the best of my knowledge, did anyone else do so. DSM-V committees are scheduled to start meeting in 2003-2007 and the projected date of publication of DSM-V is 2010."
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