As a long-term member of the Parental Alienation Study Group, I am pleased to see that there is going to be an excellent seminar this summer on new developments in the field. See the recent post from Dr. Harman. Dr. Harman is an accomplished and awarded scientist and teacher, and has published many peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and has presented her research regularly at scientific conferences around the world. Dr. Harman’s areas of research expertise focus on the topic of power in relationships: power in how intimate partners influence each other for good or bad. As an applied social psychologist, her work has applied social psychological theories on intimate relationships to the study of public health problems ranging from STI prevention to domestic violence. For nearly the last decade, her primary focus has been on the study of parental alienation.
Aside from her professional publications, Dr. Harman also writes articles for general audiences, such as The Conversation, and her work is republished on thousands of other news sites (e.g., Associated Press, Raw Story). Her 2016 TEDx talk on parental alienation, has had thousands of views.
Dr. Harman regularly conducts trainings for legal and mental health professionals on parental alienation, and has served as an expert witness and consultant on civil and criminal cases involving parental alienation and other forms of family violence.
Articles Posted in Parental Alienation
Illinois Divorce Lawyer: PASG and DSM
One of the longstanding issues in dealing with Parental Alienation within the clinical community, as well as with the legal community, has been the inclusion of Parental Alienation diagnostics in the DSM. An important group (of which I am proud to be a member) is the Parental Alienation Study Group.
Parental Alienation Study Group, Inc. (PASG), is an international, not-for-profit corporation. PASG has 800 members – mostly mental health and legal professionals – from 62 countries.
PASG is an organization open to anyone who reports an interest in the topic of parental alienation—personally, professionally, or both. Membership in PASG does not signify approval of the individual by the PASG Board of Directors, nor does it indicate any special education, training, expertise, or credentialing regarding parental alienation.
Illinois Divorce: “BLOWBACK FOR DIVORCE POISON” article by Dr. Warshak
The Impact of Parental Alienating Behaviors
The Impact of Parental Alienating Behaviors on the Mental Health of Adults Alienated in Childhood
Abstract
Roadmap for the Treatment of Parental Alienation
Illinois PAS Lawyer: Devastating Effects of Parental Alienation on Children
The Devastating Effects of Parental Alienation on Children
Anger, guilt, grief, disconnection, and low self-esteem.
Illinois Divorce: non-profit organization website: together4changes.org
Through manipulation and coercion, innocent children are weaponized against the alienated parent. Children are involuntarily forced to align entirely with one parent and sever ties with the other. They are forbidden to love a parent with whom they were previously close to.
Targeted parents and alienated children suffer the effects of this atrocity for a lifetime.
Illinois Divorce: Managing Personality Disorders in Divorce
People with personality disorders often seem to have variable personalities. They might be quite charming and reasonable at work and with neighbors and friends, but then transition to chaotic, extreme behaviors at home. Personality disorders usually begin in childhood or adolescence, and while those around people with personality disorders wish they would change, it doesn’t happen without: 1) recognition, 2) a strong commitment by the person with the traits of the disorder, and, in most cases, 3) years of therapy.
THE DSM-5 CRITERIA FOR BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER INCLUDE SOME OF THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS:
- Compromised ability to recognize the feelings and needs of others
Alienation in the Parent Child Relationship
I think the interest in this is related to the difficulty in identifying if parental alienation is going on or if it is not. To this very day, when I am contacted by a parent or attorney about a case where parental alienation is believed to be present, I still rely on these four criteria to satisfy myself that such may likely be the case. While the template that these criteria is not foolproof, it is at least some sort of reasonably and reliable measure to assist in the ruling in or ruling out of its presence.But enough backstory. The subject of today’s post is the third criteria, Deterioration in the Relationship between the Targeted Parent and the Child(ren).