Parental Alienation Syndrome (P.A.S.), Psychological Warfare

Dr. Richard Gardner identified a problem that was effecting thousands of people every year. He discovered a new psychological abuse that divorces brought on. He called it, Parental Alienation Syndrome. In 1985, Dr. Gardner began researching the problem. His research concluded there were no distinctions made toward classes, since it appeared everywhere. It is the only form of psychological abuse that can be easily discovered. Parental Alienation Syndrome is when one parent is coercing the child to believe the other parent is bad and that they should have nothing to do with them or their family. Typically, this is achieved by creating a fear, not of the intended parent, of the alienating parent.

Guilty violators do not see the dangers involved, they want to emotionally destroy the other parent. Therefore, they use the child as a pawn to accomplish this task. The child is corrupted in many different ways. First of all, they are informed that they do not have to listen to the other parent, regardless of what a court order says. With this in mind, I should also point out that the guilty parties, themselves, refuse to accept a court's findings and will not follow the court orders. These parents are selfish, without regard to neither the child nor anyone else. They see themselves in the right and everyone else wrong. The ultimate goal, for them, is to cause the other parent emotion, physical, and financial distress. When they have achieved that goal, they bring the opposing party to court. When the court sees the other party and the shape they are in, the idea is for the court to take further action against the opposing party.

Guilty parties continually bad mouth the opposing parties in front of the children, they attempt to block or hinder visitations as much as possible, or they provide the opposing pary with activities that the child must attend.

According to Dr. Gardner, there are three stages of alienation.

-Stage 1 The Mild Stage
The children are unaware of the guilty parties intentions. This stage has eight different symptons. Typically, only a couple will stand out. These symptoms include: weakness, feel like they can think for themselves, will express animosity toward to opposing parent and surrounding relatives, do not feel guilt about anything, express their love of the guilty party during conflicts, will come up with ridiculous ideas, are prone to feeling unworthy, and will make defammatory comments to the opposing party and their families.

-Stage 2 The Moderate Stage
This stage will manifest itself at the time of pick up. The children will raise a ruckus, before finally agreeing to go with the opposing parent. Once they get to the opposing parents home, they calm down. During these visitations the child will pretend to love the opposing party, often going above and beyond the normal visitations by helping the opposing party out or expressing the opportunity to help the opposing party out. However, the previous stages symtoms will worsen.

-Stage 3 The Severe Stage
This stage is the worst. The visitations will be impossible, since the child exhibits all eight of the symptoms from the first stage. Their outbursts will be violent, their cries and shrieks will not allow the opposing party to take them. At this point, the child holds the same frame of mind as the guilty party about the opposing party and their immediate family.

Dr. Gardner also indicates there are three different types of alienating parents.

-Naive parties are the parties that do not mean harm, however, they are unaware that they are alienating the child with their actions.

-Active parties are parties that also mean well. They just cannot control their emotions and lash out at the opposing parties, without consideration of the child nearby.

-Obsessed parties are the parties that strive to drive the children toward their cause. They should be with them regardless, I am right they are wrong. These parties refuse to accept court orders and refuse to believe the opposing party will ever be good for the child.

If you are concerned about your child's welfare, then you should schedule an appointment with a psychologist. A psychologist will help you determine what the best approach would be to fix the problem. In extreme cases, a party found guilty of psychological abuse could find themselves without visitations or even time in jail.