Dr. Richard A. Gardner (1985) coined the term “Parental Alienation Syndrome”.
To describe, “a psychological disturbance in children who are obsessed with depreciation and criticism of a parent without legitimate cause such as abuse”. While controversy surrounds whether this disorder is technically a syndrome – there is clearly a phenomenon whereby a custodial parent may turn children against the non-custodial parent causing psychological harm to the children. An alienated child becomes hostile to the rejected parent and may express fear or even hatred of them. Even if they previously had a good relationship, the child may say he or she can’t remember any good times or positive experiences. He or she will resist talking to or seeing the rejected parent and may try to curry favor with the favored one by being negative and dismissive about the other
Signs and Symptoms of Parental Alienation
According to Baker, children display eight behaviors that can be read as symptoms of alienation. “Any parent concerned that a child is becoming alienated should be on the lookout for even a hint of these behaviors,” she says:
- Extreme negative views toward the parent, including denying past positive experiences, and lack of investment or interest in improving the relationship.
- Frivolous or absurd reasons for hurt and anger with the parent.
- Seeing one parent as all good and the other as all bad.
- Always siding with the favored parent, no matter what he or she says or does.
- A lack of remorse for hurting the rejected parent’s feelings.
- Claiming to reject the parent with no influence from the favored parent, even though that parent is an obvious influence.
- Repeating the favored parent’s words without always understanding what they mean.
- Becoming cold and hostile toward friends and family of the rejected parent.
Parental Alienation in Israel
Israel formed its current family court system in 1995 that adopted a therapeutic jurisprudence model integrating the Family Court Social Services (FCSS) with social workers, psychologists, therapists, etc. to guide judges in rulings on family matters. However, FCSS has yet to consistently integrate measures that prevent PAS as part of its services. This is significant because Israeli judges usually do not make decisions on PAS without such recommendations by the FCSS. While Israeli courts address PAS in several decisions; they continue to lack a clear infrastructure to prevent, diagnose or treat the phenomenon. In recent years several counseling centers have opened in the private sector that specialize in treating parental alienation. However, none of the subsidized healthcare providers offer therapy for parental alienation. Furthermore, the Israeli FCSS has not adopted any codified treatment plan to prevent, diagnose, or treat PAS. Israeli law enforcement oftentimes does not prosecute criminal aspects of parental alienation such as fraud, forgery, or kidnapping. While Israeli universities are starting to offer seminars on parental alienation, it is still not part of the formal curriculum in psychology or social work. Israeli research students still need to turn to American and European universities to write dissertations on parental alienation.