Parental Alienation Syndrome (Continued from page 24)
psychiatric illness, personality disorder, or tendency toward substance misuse. False allegations of sexual abuse are
as difficult to manage as actual sexual abuse in custody cases. When the allega- tion is first made, the child and parent are usually kept apart for a time, while DSS investigates and the family and juvenile court schedule proceeds in its usual course. During that enforced separation, the parent alleging abuse has an exclusive opportunity to reinforce the allegation and influence the child, a lose/lose position whether or not sexual abuse occurred. The more “successful” the alienating parent is, the greater the likelihood of the alienation snowball- ing. Unfortunately, when the targeted parent is cut off from contact, the child may imagine the separation is evidence that the accused parent is harmful. The attorney representing a parent in access
problem cases should exhaust all possible steps on behalf of the client to maintain access between child and client. Any and all visitation available is worth fighting for, pursuing parallel litigation through the family court system in the cases where DSS is involved, and utilizing court visita- tion centers. Even if all efforts to contact between child and accused parent fail, the client’s family must do everything possible to maintain close contact with the child. Preventing separation of par- ent and child and therefore diminishing the impact of estrangement-alienation behaviors is the key. As we have all wit- nessed, damage to the alienated child is not fixed and the damage may increase over time. If not resolved prior to adult- hood, it results in a person with a skewed, inaccurate view of himself/herself which can carry over into relationships through- out the rest of life. In the courtroom, we need legal and
psychiatric closure on PAS and more specifically, clear delineation on the
damaging nature of estrangement- alienation, and the DSM-V offers a slim chance of helping as the “latest last word” if PAS or PA made it into the pipeline for consideration. We authors are unable to verify if the committees of DSM-V are considering PAS for inclu- sion, however, published agendas20, 21 allow for early speculation. The DSM-V may be adding a new entity, “relational disorders” defined as “painful, persistent behavioral problems that seriously affect adjustment” (ibid)20, 21
. This increased
conceptual sophistication of the DSM- V could highlight the distressing nature of estrangement-alienation behavior on children, while avoiding the foolishness of PAS.
Legal-Psychiatric Liaison One of the effects of increased co-
Pre Settlement Funding • Law Firm Financial Products
ordination between mental health professionals and the legal system is a false sense of confidence that represen- tatives of one guild can succeed when representatives of the other guild cannot. Unfortunately, the unique rigor of deal- ing with high conflict custody litigants is beyond the expertise and experience of most mental health clinicians. All too of- ten, clinicians recommend open-ended and vague interventions such as “fam- ily therapy” and “supportive therapy” for children of divorce (op cit 11, 20), based on traditional psychotherapeutic
(Continued on page 28)
John Friedson President
P.O. Box 1339
Rockville, Maryland 20849 (301) 984-0600 Fax: (301) 984-0719
email:
john@creativefinancingsolutions.com www.creativefinancingsolutions.com
21 19
A Research Agenda For DSM-V. Kupfer DJ, First MB, Regier DA. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C. 2002
20
Relational Processes and DSM-V: Neu- roscience, Assessment, Prevention, and Treatment. 2006. Edited by Steven R. Beach, Ph.D., Marianne Z. Wamboldt, M.D., Nadine J. Kaslow, Ph.D., Richard E. Heyman, Ph.D., Michael B. First, M.D., Lynn G. Underwood, Ph.D., and David Reiss, M.D. American Psychiatric Press, Inc., Washington, D.C.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy For PTSD In Children And Adolescents: A Prelimi- nary Randomized Controlled Trial. Smith P, Yule W, Perrin S, Tranah T, Dalgleish T, Clark DM. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2007 Aug; 46(8):1051-61.
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