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Friday, October 29, 2010

Update from AACAP Conference in New York City - Oct 24-29

An update from Robert Samery - VP PAAO, who attended the 57th AACAP Annual Conference in New York City this week with PAAO President - Jill Egizi.  (AACAP stands for the "American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry" and is the pre-eminent professional association of many court appointed evaluators and behavioural assessors.)  In photo below Jill and Robert are shown engaging in discussion with one of the attendees at the Conference.  As a Board, we decided it was extremely important that PAAO be present at this event to help make the case for including PAD in DSM-V (the influential Handbook and Manual for Professional Psychiatrists).   We received tremendous assistance from many members of PAAO's Advisory Board including: Dr. Amy Baker, Dr Richard Sauber and Dr. Michael Bone (also Dr. William Bernet who despite not being on the Advisory Board was instrumental in pitching Jill on our involvement).  All  made themselves available throughout the Conference taking turns answering queries and even helped staff our information display.

[We are asking all PAAO Supporters for their help in covering the US$5,000 we have budgeted for this exhibition space and associated promotional materials.  Each conference attendee received our regular brochure and some extra material about PAAO.   Our two board members who attended, setup, staffed the display and "spread the word" all paid their own conference expenses including travel, lodging and incidentals.  I am going to boldly suggest a very generous donation of $100 per PAAO supporter.   (But of course, everyone must decide what they can afford.)  As PAAO runs such a tight ship unless we recoup this expense, we will not be able to fund any other upcoming events.  All are important in gaining acceptance of PAD for DSM-V.  And remember, PAAO qualifies for a charitable tax receipt in either Canada and the US, where ever the donor is resident.]

Here is Robert's dispatch:


Hello all,

From rainy New York I can report the following from the AACAP conference.

After a tiring day of both delayed travel, and heavy setup on Tuesday,
Jill and I met back at the exhibit hall this morning. We seemed to be
talking to at least 1 person interested in PA issues throughout the
entire day. We were helped enormously by Michael Jeffries, who is an
extremely articulate advocate.

We a small portion of the 4700 delegates at the conference, and they
came from all points in N. America as well as the UK, Sweden,
Portugal, Spain, Brazil, France, Peru, Costa Rica, (and I may have
missed a country or 2).

Of those that spoke with us, most were aware of the issue, and a few
were happy to learn there is a name to what they have been seeing.
Many also expressed a real joy in seeing that we were even on the list
of exhibitors. That gives me a tremendous confidence in knowing that
we have done a great deal of good by even just showing up.

I'm sending you a picture of Jill, Michael and me speaking to 1 of the
many who came by to hear about what we do.

I'll try and send more of an update tomorrow.


Sunday, October 3, 2010

Psychiatric experts assess parental alienation

From article in AP Newswire:


Oct 1, 2010
NEW YORK     (AP) -- The American Psychiatric Association has a hot  potato on its hands as it updates its catalog of mental disorders -  whether to include parental alienation, a disputed term conveying how a  child's relationship with one estranged parent can be poisoned by the other.

"We're gotten an enormous amount of mail - more than any other issue," said Dr. Darrel Regier, vice chair of the task force drafting the manual. "The passions on both sides of this are exceptional."

"There is not sufficient scientific evidence to warrant its inclusion in the DSM," Regier said in a statement.

In an interview, Regier - who directs the APA's research division - said the proposal technically remains alive pending final presentations by the end of 2011. But he described chances for inclusion of parental alienation as "slim" - given that it has not been selected for field trials that normally would be a prerequisite for official recognition.

Meier, the George Washington law professor, has urged judges to be cautious in how they allow the topic to be raised in cases where one estranged parent is accused by the other of abuse.


She said the initial impetus for recognition of parental alienation syndrome came in large part from the fathers' rights movement, but suggested much of the momentum now comes from psychologists, consultants and others who could profit if the concept had a more formal status in family court disputes.

"It's monetary," Kates said. "These psychologists and therapists make huge money doing the evaluations and therapies."

Obviously we are not making enough noise.