June 2016 Flying Monkey Newsletter

I have posted the June edition of the Flying Monkey Newsletter to my website:

Flying Monkey Newsletter: June 2016

The June edition deals with the false assertion by the allied narcissistic/(borderline) parent and their flying monkey supporters that children’s expressed “preference” for parents represents an authentic expression of the child’s feelings and is not being manipulated and influenced by the allied and supposedly “preferred” narcissistic/(borderline) parent.

Which reminds me, I haven’t heard from Dr. Mercer regarding the questions I posed to her:

Dr. Mercer:

Do you agree or disagree that parental psychological control of children (as defined in the scientific research literature cited in my previous post; e.g., Barber, 2002) exists?

Do you believe narcissistic and borderline pathology exists?  Please describe for us the psychological response of a narcissistic or borderline parent to the rejection and abandonment inherent to divorce?

Do you agree or disagree that pathogenic parenting which is creating significant developmental pathology in the child, personality disorder pathology in the child, and delusional-psychiatric pathology in the child in order to meet the emotional and psychological needs of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent represents a DSM-5 diagnosis of V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse, Confirmed?

Would someone please alert Dr. Mercer that the new edition of the Flying Monkey Newsletter is available, since she has taken such an interest in these newsletters, and let her know that I’m still waiting for her response to my questions…

Because if she doesn’t respond to my questions then this means that her prior critique of my work was professionally irresponsible and extremely reckless, which is definitely not a professional attitude which should be taken regarding the lack of care and potential psychological abuse of children by a narcissistic/(borderline) personality parent.

Craig Childress, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist, PSY 18857

Barber, B. K. (Ed.) (2002). Intrusive parenting: How psychological control affects children and adolescents. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Barber and Harmon (2002) define parental psychological control of the child:

“Psychological control refers to parental behaviors that are intrusive and manipulative of children’s thoughts, feelings, and attachment to parents.  These behaviors appear to be associated with disturbances in the psychoemotional boundaries between the child and parent, and hence with the development of an independent sense of self and identity.” (p. 15; emphasis added)

Soenens, B., & Vansteenkiste, M. (2010). A theoretical upgrade of the concept of parental psychological control: Proposing new insights on the basis of self-determination theory. Developmental Review, 30, 74–99.

Soenens and Vansteenkiste (2010) describe the various methods used to achieve parental psychological control of the child:

“Psychological control can be expressed through a variety of parental tactics, including (a) guilt-induction, which refers to the use of guilt inducing strategies to pressure children to comply with a parental request; (b) contingent love or love withdrawal, where parents make their attention, interest, care, and love contingent upon the children’s attainment of parental standards; (c) instilling anxiety, which refers to the induction of anxiety to make children comply with parental requests; and (d) invalidation of the child’s perspective, which pertains to parental constraining of the child’s spontaneous expression of thoughts and feelings.” (p. 75)