Welcome To

1
Welcome To

• Parental Alienation Unrecognized Abuse
• Presented to
• FASP Annual Conference
• October 28, 2009

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Presented By

• Robert A. Evans, Ph.D.
• Certified/Licensed School Psychologist
• Pinellas County Schools
• The Center for Human Potential of American, Inc.
• 2706 Alternate 19 North
• Ste 214
• Palm Harbor, FL 34685
• 727-669-5707

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Parent Alienation

• Parental alienation refers to the childs strong
  alliance with one parent and rejection of a
  relationship with the other parent without
  legitimate justification
• Parental Alienation Disorder (coming to a DSM-V
  near you soon)

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Dx Criteria

• Childs parents engaged in a hostile divorce
• Child allies self with one parent (preferred
  parent)
• Rejects a relationship with other parent
  (alienated parent)
• No legitimate justification

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PA Behaviors

• Campaign of Denigration
• Weak, frivolous and absurd rationalizations
• Lack of ambivalence
• Independent-thinker phenomenon

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PA Disorder Behaviors

• Reflexive support of preferred parent
• Absence of Guilt
• Borrowed Scenarios
• Animosity toward extended family

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CHAPTER 39 PROCEEDINGS RELATING TO CHILDREN

• 39.001  Purposes and intent
• (3)  GENERAL PROTECTIONS FOR CHILDREN
• (a)  Protection from abuse, abandonment, neglect,
  and exploitation.
• (b)  A permanent and stable home.
• (c)  A safe and nurturing environment which will
  preserve a sense of personal dignity and
  integrity.
• (e)  Effective treatment to address physical,
  social, and emotional needs, regardless of
  geographical location.

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What Is Abuse?

• (b)  "Child abuse" means abandonment, abuse,
  harm, mental injury, neglect, physical injury, or
  sexual abuse of a child as those terms are
  defined in s. 39.01, 827.04, and 984.03
• (2)  "Abuse" means any willful act or threatened
  act that results in any physical, mental, or
  sexual injury or harm that causes or is likely to
  cause the child's physical, mental, or emotional
  health to be significantly impaired. Abuse of a
  child includes acts or omissions.

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FL Statute 61

• 61.13  Custody and support of children
  visitation rights power of court in making
  orders
• Establishing/modifying parental responsibility
• Parenting plans time-sharing with the minor
  child
• The best interest of the child shall be the
  primary consideration
• Determination of the best interests shall be made
  by evaluating all the factors affecting the
  welfare and interests of the minor child

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61.13 Dissolution of Marriage, Support, Time
Sharing

• 19 Factors some of which include the words
• facilitate and encourage a close and continuing
  parent-child relationship
• consider and act upon the needs of the child
• capacity to communicate with and keep the other
  parent informed adopt a unified front on all
  major issues
• Evidence of child abuse,
• refraining from disparaging comments abut the
  other parent to the child.
• capacity and disposition of each parent to meet
  the childs developmental needs

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Parental Alienation Syndrome

• First introduced in 1985
• Child is preoccupied with deprecation and
  criticism
• More than brainwashing
• 1980s Proliferation of literature on disturbing
  trends, including false allegations of abuse to
  influence the outcome in a divorce/custody case.

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History

• Three (3) other syndromes were identified
• 1986 Blush Ross Sex Abuse Allegations in
  Divorce (SAID) typologies for the falsely
  accusing parent, the child and the accused
  parent
• Jacobs (NY) Wallerstein (CA) reported MEDEA Syn
  
• 1994 Turkat described the Malicious Mother
  Syn.
• Clawar and Rivlin published Children Held Hostage
  by the Am. Bar Assoc. in 1991
• 80 programming of some level
• 20 programming at least once a day
• J. Johnsons work on high conflict divorce
  studied children who refused visitation

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History

• When PAS is studied from the standpoint of parts
  and subprocesses which creates the whole, the
  literature on Parental Alienation and/or PAS is
  enormous!

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Parent Alienation

• Specific actions by an Alienating Parent
• Includes
• Criticizing
• Attacking the other (target) parent in front of
  and ultimately with the children.  
• An attempt to remove Target Parent (TP)
• Make it appear it is the child who feels this way
• These behaviors are predictable and form an
  identifiable pattern.

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Parental Alienation

• The pattern of these behaviors forms four
  Criteria
• Visitation or access blocking
• False allegations of abuse/or unfit parenting
  against the TP
• Deteriorated relationship between child and TP
  since separation  
• Exaggerated fear reaction by the child at
  displeasing the Alienating Parent

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External/Internal Deterioration

• External
• Refers to how the child behaves in front of
  various audiences.
• Internal
• The subjective deterioration of the childs view
  of the TP

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Fear Reaction Regarding Displeasing the AP

• The AP may actually reject the child
• Child overtly fearful of the AP
• The AP infantilized by the child enmeshed
  lines of responsibility misplaced lots of blame
• These are common in divorce when PA is not
  present. However, if present with all three
  other criteria, they serve to shape and intensify
  these behaviors very distinctly to a point where
  they become a relational theme.
• When alienation is present this quality of
  enmeshment forms the core of the Alienating
  Parent-child relationship.

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Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS)

• PAS can occur with or without abuse accusations
• There is an increase in PAS type cases with
  accusations by the AP that the TP is the parent
  who is practicing PAS
• PAS only applies where abuse, neglect and other
  conduct by the TP, which would reasonable justify
  the alienation, are relatively minimal.

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Childs Underlying Psychodynamics

• Maintaining the Primary Psychological Bond
• Stronger bond with primary caretaker
• Fear of losing primary psychological bond
• Reaction Formation
• Obsessive hatred can be a disguise for deep love
• The opposite of love is not hate, but
  indifference

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Childs Underlying Psychodynamics

• Identification with the aggressor
• Seeking protection from that aggressor
• Compensation for feeling insecure
• Identification with an idealized person
• Alienating parents may idealize themselves to the
  child

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Childs Underlying Psychodynamics

• Child loses their ability to identify with the TP
• Expresses hostility
• The expression of PAS can be a release of
  emotions
• Power
• Venting rage creates a feeling of power within
  the child

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Childs Underlying Psychodynamics

• Need to exercise caution with accusations of
  abuse
• Infectiousness of the Energy of Emotions
• Emotions are contagious
• APs infect, albeit sometimes unknowingly, with
  their negative feelings
• Sexual Rivalry
• TPs involvement with another adult may cause
  problems
• Combined with a custody dispute increases the
  chance of PAS

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Teaching To Hate

• In its worst form, a child may be taught to
  believe that a parent has abused them when its
  not true.

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Teaching To Hate

• Dr. Garbarino identified 5 patterns of parental
  behavior which constitute psychological
  maltreatment
• 1. Rejecting
• 2. Ignoring
• 3. Isolating
• 4. Terrorizing
• 5. Corrupting

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Interference with Social Competence and Self
Esteem

• Conflict resolution skills squelched
• Learning healthy self-esteem deprived
• Child learns to act manipulatively and
  aggressively towards others.
• Child fails to learn empathy a critical, social
  skill condition for successful adult functioning
• Child learns to be paranoid and adopt the
  pathology of the favored parent

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Teaching To Hate

• The loss of a caring parent is an extreme loss.
  The best interest of the child is to have both
  loving parents in their lives. The child is not
  the only victim of parental alienation. The
  entire family is a casualty and suffers from this
  problem.

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3 Types of Parental Alienation

• Mild
• Moderate
• Severe

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Specific PAS behaviors

• Destroying TPs items
• Deprive children contact with TP
• Communicates to the child the TP was so
  despicable and hateful all evidence of their
  existence must be obliterated
• Destroying photographs of pleasant and joyful
  experiences

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Specific PAS behaviors

• Destruction of extended family photos
• Frequently begins when child learns about
  impending custody dispute
• AP discloses child custody dispute to the child
• Child allowed to read legal documents involved in
  the case.

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Specific PAS behaviors

• Exaggerate a parents minor psychological
  problems
• Labeling a parent an alcoholic because they
  have a drink
• Distant history of drug experimentation warrants
  a label of drug addict

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Specific PAS behaviors

• An AP threatens child
• I can see why you hate him, but youll have to
  go and visit or else the judge will get made at
  me.

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Clinical manifestations of PAS in the TP

• Confusion and Guilt re Parent Child
  Relationship
• Generate self-blame
• Feeling Impotent - Rage
• Fail to understand what has happened
• Enormous frustration which leads to anger, then
  rage then fury
• No-Win Situation
• If the TP presses to see their children, they are
  criticized for harassment by the AP.
• If the TP pulls back and does nothing, hoping the
  children will come to their senses, they are
  labeled abandoners.
• Schools
• APs commonly attempt to obstruct the TPs
  involvement in school activities.

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Clinical manifestations of PAS in the TP

• Passive parents will allow themselves to be
  excluded from school activities
• Alienators attempt to enlist the help of school
  administrators who frequently do not want to
  make waves and go along with the alienators
  wishes.
• New Partners
• PAS can have a devastating effect on new
  relationships
• Sometimes PAS doesnt begin until there is a new
  partner

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Children Held Hotage

• Am. Bar Assoc. research authored by Stanley S.
  Clawar, Ph.D. and Bryne Rivlin, M.S.S., 1991
• Sample N700
• Age range of childreninfancy through 20 yo
• Case focus 75 over custody
• Occupations of Parents (15 professional 25
  Business 20 skilled 15 semi-skilled 15
  unskilled 10 unemployed)

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How Children Are Effected

• Anger
• Loss or lack of impulse control
• Loss of self-confidence
• Development of fears and phobias
• Fear of abandonment
• School phobia
• Hypochondriasis
• Fear of the future
• Fear of death

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How Children Are Effected

• School-Related problems
• Sibling problems
• Anger issues
• Behavioral regression
• Depression Suicidal ideation
• Sleep problems
• Eating problems
• Academic problems
• Withdrawal
• Confusion
• Enuresis
• Daydreaming

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How Children Are Effected

• Drug abuse/other self-destructive behaviors
• Peer group problems
• Psychosomatic disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive behavior
• Anxiety
• Excessive guilt
• Retreat into fantasy

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School-Related Problems

• Acting out
• Social withdrawal
• Grade fluctuations
• Insubordination
• Truancy
• Feeling life is chaotic and uncontrollable

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Adult Children of PAS

• Amy J. L. Baker
• Published 2007
• N40
• Interviews
• Low Self-Esteem (n26, 65)
• Depression (n28, 70)
• Drug Alcohol Problems (n14, 35)
• Lack of Trust (n16, 40)
• Alienated from their own children (n14, 50)
• Divorce (n23, 57.5)

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Amy J. L. Baker

• Other areas (less prominent) of impact
• Problems with identity
• No sense of belonging or roots
• Choosing not to have children to avoid rejection
• Low academic and career achievement
• Anger and bitterness of time lost from a parent
• Problems with memory

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Long Term Effects of Trauma

• November 2009 American Journal of Preventive
  Medicine
• 14-year-old Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
• 17,337 adults
• Medical questionnaire that included questions
  about their childhood

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Traumatic childhood takes 20 yearsoff
life expectancy

• Asked about 10 types of child trauma
• Three types of abuse (sexual, physical and
  emotional)
• Two types of neglect (physical emotional)
• Five types of family dysfunction (having a mother
  who was treated violently, a household member
  whos an alcoholic or drug user, whos been
  imprisoned, or diagnosed with mental illness, or
  parents who are separated or divorced).

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Traumatic childhood

• Findings have stunned researchers
• Strong link adverse childhood experiences and
  adult onset of chronic illness
• Significantly higher rates of heart disease and
  diabetes
• Chronic pulmonary lung disease increased 390
  percent hepatitis, 240 percent depression, 460
  percent suicide, 1,220 percent.

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Traumatic childhood

• 4,600 percent increase in the likelihood of
  becoming an IV drug
• Died nearly 20 years earlier on average
• 60.6 years versus 79.1 years
• a person who has been emotionally abused,
  physically neglected and grew up with an
  alcoholic father who beat up his wife would have
  an ACE score of 4

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Controversies surrounding PAS

• PAS oversimplifies the causes of alienation
• PAS
• leads to confusion in clinical work with
  alienated children
• is not reliable as a clinical concept
• is not a valid concept
• is not a syndrome
• lacks adequate scientific foundation to be
  considered a syndrome

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Controversies surrounding PAS

• The Frye rule from a 1923 decision which holds
  that for scientific evidence to be admissible it
  must be gathered using techniques that have
  gained general acceptance in their field.

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Controversies surrounding PAS

• In 1993 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision
  in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  set the guidelines for the admissibility of
  scientific expert testimony. The factors in
  Daubert are (a) is the theory or technique based
  on methodology that can or has been tested? (b)
  has the theory or technique been the subject of
  peer review and publication? (c) what is the
  known or potential rate of error? (d) does the
  technique enjoy general acceptance within the
  scientific community?
• Does PAS meet the criteria set forth in either
  Frye or Daubert?
• PAS has not passed peer reviews

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Controversies surrounding PAS

• PAS unfairly blames one parent for the familys
  dysfunction
• PAS recommends forced time to be spent with the
  targeted parent
• PAS is not real because it is not in the DSM-IV
  (yet)! Putting the pieces together.

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Case Law

• Kilgore vs. Boyd Case No. 94-7573
• PAS passes the Frye Test
• Testimony on PAS will assist in deciding best
  interest
• PAS has been sufficiently established general
  acceptance

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Case Law

• Schutz v. Schutz, 522 So. 2d 874 (Fla. 3rd Dist.
  Ct. App. 1988).
• Blosser v. Blosser, 707 So. 2d 778 1998 Fla.
  App. Case No. 96-03534.
• Tucker v. Greenberg, 674 So. 2d 807 (Fla. 5th DCA
  1996).
• Berg-Perlow v. Perlow, 15th Circuit Court, Palm
  Beach County, Fl.,Case no. CD98-1285-FC. Mar 15,
  2000.
• An exceptionally strong family court decision in
  which five experts testified to the diagnosis of
  PAS.
• Loten v. Ryan, 15th Circuit Court, Palm Beach
  County, FL., Case No. CD 93-6567 FA. Dec
  11,2000. 
• Kilgore v. Boyd, 13th Circuit Court, Hillsborough
  County, FL., Case No. 94-7573, 733 So. 2d 546
  (Fla. 2d DCA 2000) Jan 30, 2001.
• Boyd v. Kilgore, 773 So. 2d 546 (Fla. 3d DCA
  2000) (Prohibition Denied)
• Court ruling that the Parental Alienation
  Syndrome has gained general acceptance in the
  scientific community and thereby satisfies Frye
  Test criteria for admissibility.
• McDonald v. McDonald, 9th Judicial Circuit Court,
  Orange County, FL. Case No. D-R90-11079, Feb 20,
  1001.
• Blackshear v. Blackshear, Hillsborough County, FL
  13th Jud. Circuit 95-08436.

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Wrap Up

• You have to be taught to love
• and to hate
• you have to be carefully taught.
• (from South Pacific)

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The End

• Thank you for attending.
• If you are interested in learning more please go
  to
• TheCenterforHumanPotentialofAmerica.com
• And take the Parent Alienation course for mental
  health professionals for CE credit.