Parental alienation syndrome
Parental alienation syndrome (abbreviated as PAS) is a term coined by Richard A Gardner in the early 1980s to refer to what he describes as a disorder in which a child, on an ongoing basis, belittles and insults one parent without justification, due to a combination of factors, including indoctrination by the other parent (almost exclusively as part of a child custody dispute) and the child's own attempts to denigrate the target parent. Gardner introduced the term in a 1985 paper, describing a cluster of symptoms he had observed during the early 1980s.
Parental alienation syndrome is not recognized as a disorder by the medical or legal communities and Gardner's theory and related research have been extensively criticized by legal and mental health scholars for lacking scientific validity and reliability. However, the separate but related concept of parental alienation the estrangement of a child from a parent, is recognized as a dynamic in some divorcing families. Psychologists differentiate between parental alienation and parental alienation syndrome by linking parental alienation with behaviors or symptoms of the parents, while parental alienation syndrome is linked to hatred and vilification of a targeted parent by the child.
The admissibility of PAS has been rejected by an expert review panel and the court of appeal of England and wales in the United Kingdom and Canada's department of justice recommends against its use. PAS has appeared in some family court disputes in the United states, Gardner portrayed PAS as well accepted by the judiciary and having set a variety of precedents, but legal analysis of the actual cases indicates this claim was incorrect.
No professional association has recognized PAS as a relevant medical syndrome or mental disorder, and it is not listed in the international statistical classification of diseases and related health problems of the who or in the American pyschiatric association's diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM).
Parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is an abnormal psychological condition most often observed in children affected by high conflict divorce and/or separation. It is one of the most damaging outcomes affecting children as a result of exposure to Hostile-Aggressive Parenting. The most common symptom of children affected by PAS is their severe opposition to contact with one parent and/or overt hatred toward such parent when there is little and often, no logical reason to explain the child’s behaviour. The effects of PAS can last well into adulthood and may last for a lifetime with tragic consequences.
Parental Alienation can be defined as follows:
Those who conduct assessments into Hostile-Aggressive Parenting (HAP) must understand PAS and know how to identify its presence as some information being gathered for an evaluation of HAP could be tainted due to a child being affected by PAS providing untruthful information.
Up until the development of the “Risk assessment protocol to evaluate the risk of harm to children caused by Hostile-Aggressive Parenting (HAP)”, identifying the presence of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) was usually shrouded in clinical terms that were vague and open to interpretation and, therefore, susceptible to endless argument by opposing lawyers and their experts within the adversarial court system. Often the term PAS was grouped together to include the negative behaviour of one or both of the parents, rather than being identified as a mental health condition of the child. PAS clearly refers to a mental health condition of the child. PAS clearly is a disorder in a child which can be easily identified by referencing a simple list of identifying criteria and qualifiers. The actions, behaviours and decision-making of persons (usually called HAP parents) influencing the child are the causes of PAS and should not be confused with the condition of PAS.