New Patient Forms
About
Dr. Garber
Office Policies & Procedures
About Psychotherapy in General
Providing Professional Continuing Education
Ask your Insurance Company These Questions
Dr. Garber's Resumé
Links
Benjamin D. Garber, Ph.D.
Practice in Clinical Child, Consulting and Forensic Psychology
 32 Daniel Webster Highway, Suite 17 Merrimack, NH 03054-4859
 voice 603.879.9100 blue divider facsimile 603.879.9070 blue divider e-mail papaben@healthyparent.com
Home to HealthyParent.com  Home to HealthyParent.com


Parental alienation

The concept of parental alienation, the alienated child or the"Parental Alienation Syndrome" has become a major topic of debate and cause for litigation. Parental alienation is not a "syndrome" but a process or family dynamic.

Learn more here and access Dr. Garber's professional works on this controversial subject.

Click here to learn more
Click here to learn more

Directions
About
ADHD & ADD
New Hampshire Mental Health Bill of Rights
Children and Divorce
Consultation & Seminars
 Dr. Garber's Parenting Articles
Dr. Garber's Parenting Books
Dr. Garber's Professional Publications
Index alienation resources here...
What is alienation?
 Alienation bibliography
Read Dr. Garber's 2004
Journal of Child Custody
article on alienation and attachment
 Read Dr. Garber's 1996 New Hampshire Bar Journal article on alienation
(with apologies - this loads very slowly!)
 		Read Dr. Garber's 2004
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice article on therapist alienation

Back to top


What is alienation?
(Reader be warned: The topic of alienation is very controversial as it is commonly heard in the context of contested custody litigation. Many professionals will disagree with Dr. Garber's position in the following and as detailed in his 2004 Journal of Child Custody article, "Parental alienation in light of attachment theory: Consideration of the broader implications for child development, clinical practice and forensic process", available to read online at Click here to learn more )

Alienation is a tool that is entirely necessary and natural to the course of child development and family functioning. It describes those communications (both spoken and implicit) which define group membership by indicating who is outside the group. Alignment is the complimentary tool, the necessary and natural means of communicating who is "in" the group. As parents, we use alienation and alignment commonly to communicate to our children who can be trusted and who can not. We make statements like, "Don't talk to strangers" (an example of extra-familial alienation), and "You're going to love your new teacher" (an example of extra-familial alignment) and "Your mother always loves you" (an example of intrafamilial alignment).
One of Dr. Garber's 2004 articles discusses one specific example of extrafamilial alienation in the context of conducting psychotherapy with children of highly conflicted caregivers Click here to learn more

When conflicted caregivers use the familiar tool of alienation as a means of psychologically dividing what was once an intact family unit it becomes a weapon. Intrafamilial (or co-parental) alienation is the weapon of  angry, selfish and/or uneducated parents who may intend to hurt their estanged partner but who, in fact, are abusing their children.

The vast majority of the professional literature discussing "parental alienation" and Parental Alienation Syndrome" intend to describe this latter instance, the dynamic that so often ends up in court and which is better known as co-parental alienation. Read more about these distinctions, how alienation and alignment are in fact functions of the development of a child's attachments and recommendations for future directions in Dr. Garber's article available online here Click here to learn more

Continue below for a bibliography of alienation resources Click here to learn more

top of page
Parental alienation (PA)
and
Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS):
A selected bibliography
Benjamin D. Garber, Ph.D. August, 2004
Bricklin, B., Elliott, G. (2000). Further reflections on the parental alienation syndrome. The Custody Newsletter, 21, 20-23.

Dallam, S. (1998a). Dr. Richard Gardner: A review of his theories and opinions on atypical sexuality, pedophilia, and treatment issues. Treating Abuse Today, January/February, 16- 28.

Dallam, S. (1998b). The evidence for parental alienation syndrome: An examination of Gardner's theories and opinions. Treating Abuse Today, March/April, 25-34.

Dallam, S. (2000). The parental alienation syndrome: Is it scientific? In E.T. St.Charles, and L. Crook (Eds.) Expose: The failure of family courts to protect children from abuse in custody disputes. Los Gatos: Our Children Our Future Charitable Foundation.

Drozd, L. & Olesen, N. (2004). Is it abuse, alienation and/or estrangement? A decision tree. Journal of Child Custody, 1(4), xx-xx.

Dunne, J. & Hedrick, M. (1994). The parental alienation syndrome: An analysis of sixteen selected cases. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 21, 21-38.

Faller, K. (1998). The parental alienation syndrome: What is it and what data support it? Child Maltreatment, 3, 100-115.
Garber, B. (March, 1996). Alternatives to parental alienation: Acknowledging the broader scope of children’s emotional difficulties during parental separation and divorce. New Hampshire Bar Journal, 51-54. Read it here Click here to learn more (with apologies - this one loads very slowly!)

Garber, B. (2004a). Therapist Alienation: Foreseeing and forestalling third party dynamics undermining psychotherapy with children of conflicted caregivers. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 35(4), xxx-xxx. Read it here Click here to learn more

Garber, B. (2004b). Directed co-parenting intervention: Conducting child centered interventions in parallel with highly conflicted co-parents. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 35(1), 55-64. Read it here Click here to learn more

Garber, B. (2004c). Parental alienation in light of attachment theory: Consideration of the broader implications for child development, clinical practice and forensic process. Journal of Child Custody, 1(3), xxx-xxx. Read it here Click here to learn more

Garber, B. (2004c). "Walking on Thin Ice: Practical and ethical considerations when conducting psychotherapies with children and families in turmoil and transition due to separation and divorce." Webcast CEU continuously available at www.nhpaonline.org sponsored by the New Hampshire Psychological Association.

Gardner, R.A. (1987). The Parental Alienation Syndrome and the Differentiation Between Fabricated and Genuine Child Sex Abuse. Cresskill, N.J.: Creative Therapeutics.

Gardner, R.A. (1992a). The Parental Alienation Syndrome. Cresskill, N.J.: Creative Therapeutics.

Gardner, R.A. (1992b). True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse. Cresskill, N.J.: Creative Therapeutics.
Gardner, R.A. (1998). The Parental Alienation Syndrome, Second Edition. Cresskill, N.J.: Creative Therapeutics.

Gardner, R.A. (2001a). The parental alienation syndrome: Sixteen years later. The Academy Forum, 45(1), 10-12.

Gardner, R. (2002). Rebuttal to Kelly and Johnston's Article. Children Speak Out for Children, 17(2): 5-10, 2002 and retrieved 12 January, 2002 from: http://www.rgardner.com/refs/ar16.html.

Gardner, R. (2003, May 23). Articles in Peer-Review Journals and Published Books on the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). Retrieved 26 June, 2003 from: http://www.rgardner.com/refs/pas_peerreviewarticles.html.

Johnston, J. (2003). Parental alignments and rejection: An empirical study of alienation in children of divorce. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 31: 158-170.

Johnston, J., Gans Walter, M. & Oleson, N. (in press). Is it alienating parent, role reversal or child abuse? An empirical study of children’s rejection of a parent in child custody disputes. Journal of Emotional Abuse.

Johnston, J. & Kelly, J. (2004). Commentary on Walker, Brantley and Rigsbee’s (2004), “A critical analysis of parental alienation syndrome and its admissibility in the family court. Journal of Child Custody, xxxxx

Kelly, J. & Johnston, J. (2001) The alienated child: A reformulation of parental alienation syndrome. Family Court Review, 39 (3), 249-267.

Lampel, A. (1996). Children’s alignment with parents in highly conflicted custody cases. Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 34(2) 229-239.
Lee, S. & Oleson, N. (2001). Assessing for alienation in child custody and access evaluations. Family Court Review, 39(3), 282-298.

Poliacoff, J., Greene, C. & Smith, L. (1999). Parental alienation syndrome: Frye v. Gardner in the family courts. Retrieved from http://www.gate.net/~liz/liz/poliacoff.htm

Rybicki, D. (2001). Parental alienation and enmeshment issues in child custody cases. As excerpted from untitled forthcoming publication, on line at:  http://www.deltabravo.net/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?doc=/custody/pas-rybicki.htm

Stahl, P. (1999). Complex Issues in Child Custody Evaluations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Sullivan, M. & Kelly, J. (2001). Legal and psychological management of cases with an alienated child. Family Court Review, 39(3), 299-315.

Ward, P. & Harvey, J. (March, 1993). Family wars: The alienation of children. New Hampshire Bar Journal, 34 (1).

Warshak, R. (2001a). Current controversies regarding parental alienation syndrome. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 19(3), 29-59.

Warshak, R. (2001b). Divorce Poison. New York: ReganBooks.

Zirogiannis, L. (2001). Evidentiary issues with parental alienation syndrome. Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 39(3), 334-343.



Back to top