Psychiatric experts assess parental alienation

From article in AP Newswire:

Psychiatric experts assess parental alienation

By DAVID CRARY
AP National Writer

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.

A member shares some resources

Here are some resources suggested by a very generous and committed parent who has been alienated from her children for almost 8 years. After a very long conversation, she was kind enough to send me some of the resources she feels could help others deal with Parental Alienation (PA).

1) Alternatives to Traditional Family Law.

Many people have not found their experience of our adversarial legal system very satisfying. I believe it is too costly, too biased towards perpetual litigation and rewards dysfunctional behaviour rather than promoting healthy family interactions. That said, sometimes it is necessary.

In recent years, alternatives to just engaging a divorce lawyer have sprung up - collaborative practice. They are usually former family law lawyers, paralegals or family counsellors who have become disenchanted with the existing, traditional practices of the Family Law system. While their hourly rates may be about the same, they can end up costing far less in time, money and distress. In my experience these encounters can de-escalate tense situations and isolate key, contentious issues. Of course they require each party to act in "good faith" to be truly successful, but if these method fail there is nothing stopping one from moving to a more traditional route and retaining a lawyer.

2) Legal References on Parental Alienation (PA)

A meta search of various legal databases on Case Law regarding PA (updated: May 18, 2008), this provides some examples of evolving precedent case law in the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain and Europe.

For Canadian Legal Research, CanLII is indispensable (see thumbnail image above). It is a free database that contains ALL current (and increasingly as historical records become converted) past legal decisions in just about all jurisdictions and branches of the Canadian Justice system. Here is a specific reference to an Alberta Queens Bench Decision released Dec 12, 2004 involving Parental Alienation.

3) Academic Articles and Resources about PA

"Cobwebbed1" links to various resources about PAS compiled by the former "founder of Parental Alienation Behaviour Theory", Dr. Richard GARDNER (now deceased). It appears to be maintained and is linked to Dr. Richard WARSHAK's (author of "Divorce Poison") very useful resources/website.

4) An Alternative Viewpoint

While checking the links above via Google, I found what I will merely characterize as "an alternative viewpoint". This link was not endorsed or provided by our supporter - and let me make it perfectly clear that I do NOT subscribe to it on many levels, but it may be instructive to some and I will leave it at that.

Footnotes:

1) "Cobwebbed" is a term I have run across that describes many of the links that may still exist as abandoned or moribund websites - yet still are excellent resources.