Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) refers to the wide variety of symptoms that may result from or be associated with a child's alienation from a parent. Children may become alienated from a parent because of physical abuse, with or without sexual abuse. Children's alienation may be the result of parental emotional abuse, which may be overt in the form of verbal abuse or more covert in the form of neglect. (As will be described below Parental Alienation Syndrome, as a form of emotional abuse, is also a type of parental alienation.) Children may become alienated as the result of parental abandonment. Ongoing parental acrimony, especially when associated with physical violence, may cause children to become alienated. Children may become alienated because of behavior exhibited by a parent that would be alienating to most people, e.g., narcissism, alcoholism, and antisocial behavior. Impaired parenting can also bring about children's alienation. A child may be angry at the parent who initiated the divorce, believing that that parent is solely to blame for the separation. These and many other parental behaviors can produce children's alienation, but none of them can justifiably be considered Parental Alienation Syndrome.
DEFINITION OF THE PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME
In association with this burgeoning of child-custody litigation, we have witnessed a dramatic increase in the frequency of a disorder rarely seen previously, a disorder that I refer to as the parental alienation syndrome (PAS). In this disorder we see not only programming ("brainwashing") of the child by one parent to denigrate the other parent, but self-created contributions by the child in support of the alienating parent's campaign of denigration against the alienated parent. Because of the child's contribution I did not consider the terms brainwashing, programming, or other equivalent words to be sufficient. Furthermore, I observed a cluster of symptoms that typically appear together, a cluster that warranted the designation syndrome . Accordingly, I introduced the term parental alienation syndrome to encomParental Alienation Syndromes the combination of these two contributing factors that contributed to the development of the syndrome (Gardner, 1985). In accordance with this use of the term I suggest this definition of the parental alienation syndrome:
The parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is a childhood disorder that arises almost exclusively in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary manifestation is the child's campaign of denigration against a parent, a campaign that has no justification. It results from the combination of a programming (brainwashing) parent's indoctrinations and the child's own contributions to the vilification of the target parent. When true parental abuse and/or neglect is present, the child's animosity may be justified and so the parental alienation syndrome explanation for the child's hostility is not applicable.
In the Parental Alienation Syndrome, the alienating parent programs into the child's brain circuitry ideas and attitudes that are directly at variance with the child's previous experiences. In addition, Parental Alienation Syndrome children frequently add their own scenarios to the campaign of denigration, from the recognition that their complementary contributions are desired by the programmer. The child's contributions are welcomed and reinforced by the programmer, resulting in even further contributions by the child. The result is an upwardly spiraling campaign of denigration. In mild cases the child is taught to disrespect, disagree with, and even act out antagonistically against the targeted parent. As the disorder progresses from mild to moderate to severe, this antagonism becomes converted and expanded into a campaign of denigration. The Parental Alienation Syndrome diagnosis is based on the symptoms of the child, but the problem is clearly a family problem in that in each case there is one parent who is a programmer, another parent who is the alienated parent, and one or more children who exhibit the symptomatology. Parental Alienation Syndrome children respond to the programming in such a way that it appears that they have become completely amnesic for any and all positive and loving experiences they may have had previously with the targeted parent.
The term Parental Alienation Syndrome is applicable only when the target parent has not exhibited anything close to the degree of alienating behavior that might warrant the campaign of vilification exhibited by the children. Rather, in typical cases the victimized parent would be considered by most examiners to have provided normal, loving parenting or, at worst, exhibited minimal impairments in parental capacity. It is the exaggeration of minor weaknesses and deficiencies that is the hallmark of the Parental Alienation Syndrome. When bona fide abuse does exist, then the child's responding alienation is warranted and the Parental Alienation Syndrome diagnosis is not applicable. The term parental alienation would be applicable in such cases and justifiably so. However, without specifying the particular cause of the alienation the term is not particularly informative.
Richard A. Gardner, M.D.
May 31, 2001
THE PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME AS A FORM OF CHILD ABUSE
It is important for examiners to appreciate that a parent who inculcates a Parental Alienation Syndrome in a child is indeed perpetrating a form of emotional abuse in that such programming may not only produce lifelong alienation from a loving parent, but lifelong psychiatric disturbance in the child. A parent who systematically programs a child into a state of ongoing denigration and rejection of a loving and devoted parent is exhibiting complete disregard of the alienated parent's role in the child's upbringing. Such an alienating parent is bringing about a disruption of a psychological bond that could, in the vast majority of cases, prove of great value to the child—the separated and divorced status of the parents notwithstanding. Such alienating parents exhibit a serious parenting deficit, a deficit that should be given serious consideration by courts when deciding primary custodial status. Physical and/or sexual abuse of a child would quickly be viewed by the court as a reason for assigning primary custody to the nonabusing parent. Emotional abuse is much more difficult to assess objectively, especially because many forms of emotional abuse are subtle and difficult to verify in a court of law. The Parental Alienation Syndrome, however, is most often readily identified, and courts would do well to consider its presence a manifestation of emotional abuse by the programming parent.
Accordingly, courts do well to consider the Parental Alienation Syndrome programming parent to be exhibiting a serious parental deficit when weighing the pros and cons of custodial transfer. I am not suggesting that a Parental Alienation Syndrome-inducing parent should automatically be deprived of primary custody, only that such induction should be considered a serious deficit in parenting capacity—a form of emotional abuse—and that it be given serious consideration when weighing the custody decision. In this book, I provide specific guidelines regarding the situations when such transfer is not only desirable, but even crucial, if the children are to be protected from lifelong alienation from the targeted parent.
Richard A. Gardner, M.D.
May 31, 2001