Month: August 2016

The term “parental alienation” is not a defined construct in clinical psychology.  It is a term used in the popular culture to refer to a child’s rejection of a normal-range and affectionally available parent surrounding high-conflict divorce.

Attachment-Related Pathology

The rejection of a parent is an attachment-related pathology.  The attachment system is the brain system for managing all aspects of love and bonding throughout the lifespan – including grief and loss experiences such as occurs through divorce.

The pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture is an attachment-related pathology. 

Therefore, all mental health professionals involved in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of this form of family pathology must have a strong clinical expertise in the attachment system; its characteristic functioning and its characteristic dysfunctioning.

The pathology called “parental alienation” represents a form of “disordered mourning” (Bowlby, 1980) within the family in which the emotions of sadness and grief surrounding the divorce are being translated into “anger and resentment, loaded with revengeful wishes” (Kernberg, 1975, p. 229).

“Disturbances of personality, which include a bias to respond to loss with disordered mourning, are seen as the outcome of one or more deviations in development that can originate or grow worse during any of the years of infancy, childhood and adolescence.” (Bowlby, 1980, p. 217)

“The deactivation of attachment behavior is a key feature of certain common variants of pathological mourning.” (Bowlby, 1980, p. 70)

Family Systems Pathology

The pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture involves family relationships.  The child is being triangulated into the spousal conflict through the formation of a cross-generational coalition with one parent against the other parent (Haley, 1977; Minuchin, 1974). 

The pathology called “parental alienation in the common culture is a family systems pathology.  All mental health professionals involved in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of this form of family systems pathology must have a strong clinical expertise in family systems therapy, particularly the recognition, diagnosis, and treatment surrounding a cross-generational coalition in the family.

Parental Personality Pathology

The pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture is created by the narcissistic and borderline personality traits of the allied parent (particularly projection and splitting) that become activated by the inherent rejection (and abandonment) surrounding the divorce.

The addition of the splitting pathology from the allied narcissistic/(borderline) parent to a cross-generational coalition with the child transmutes an already pathological cross-generational coalition into a particularly malignant form in which the child seeks to entirely terminate the child’s relationship with the targeted parent.

Splitting pathology cannot accommodate to ambivalence (Juni, 1995).  As a result of the splitting pathology of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent who is allied with the child, when the spouse becomes an ex-spouse (an ex-husband or ex-wife), this now ex-spouse must also become an ex-parent as well (an ex-father or ex-mother) in order to maintain the consistency imposed by the splitting pathology of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent who is allied with the child in a cross-generational coalition. 

The pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture is a consequence of parental personality pathology (narcissistic and borderline personality traits) that is severely distorting family relationships following the rejection and abandonment of this parent surrounding the divorce.  All mental health professionals involved in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of this form of family pathology must have a strong clinical expertise in the recognition of narcissistic and borderline personality pathology, including role-reversal relationships, manipulation and exploitation of others, and delusional distortions to their perception of relationships, that are characteristics of the narcissistic and borderline personality organizations.

Attachment Trauma Pathology

The personality disorder pathology of the allied parent represents the coalesced product of childhood attachment trauma (disorganized attachment).  This childhood attachment trauma of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent is embedded in the “internal working models” (schemas) of this parent’s attachment system in the pattern of:

“abusive parent”/”victimized child”/”protective parent”

This attachment pattern from childhood has become reactivated in the attachment system of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent due to the loss surrounding the divorce, and this attachment pattern from childhood is being imposed on the current family members by the pathology of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent in a reenactment of the childhood trauma narrative:

Abusive parent = targeted parent

Victimized child = the current child

Protective parent = the role adopted by the allied narcissistic/(borderline) parent

But this is a false narrative born in the childhood attachment trauma of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent.  It’s not true.  The targeted parent is not abusive.  The child is not a victim.  And the narcissistic/(borderline) parent is not a protective parent.  None of this is true.  It’s a delusion.  A false narrative created in the childhood attachment trauma of the narcissistic borderline parent.

“Reenactments of the traumatic past are common in the treatment of this population and frequently represent either explicit or coded repetitions of the unprocessed trauma in an attempt at mastery.  Reenactments can be expressed psychologically, relationally, and somatically and may occur with conscious intent or with little awareness. One primary transference-countertransference dynamic involves reenactment of familiar roles of victim-perpetrator-rescuer-bystander in the therapy relationship.  Therapist and client play out these roles, often in complementary fashion with one another, as they relive various aspects of the client’s early attachment relationships.” (Pearlman & Courtois, 2005, p. 455)

It is a false trauma reenactment narrative, transferred from the childhood of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent into the current family relationships.  This false trauma reenactment narrative represents an encapsulated delusion (google the term encapsulated delusion).

One of the leading experts on personality pathology, Theodore Millon, describes how the narcissistic personality collapses into delusional beliefs under stress:

“Under conditions of unrelieved adversity and failure, narcissists may decompensate into paranoid disorders.  Owing to their excessive use of fantasy mechanisms, they are disposed to misinterpret events and to construct delusional beliefs.  Unwilling to accept constraints on their independence and unable to accept the viewpoints of others, narcissists may isolate themselves from the corrective effects of shared thinking.  Alone, they may ruminate and weave their beliefs into a network of fanciful and totally invalid suspicions.  Among narcissists,delusions often take form after a serious challenge or setback has upset their image of superiority and omnipotence.  They tend to exhibit compensatory grandiosity and jealousy delusions in which they reconstruct reality to match the image they are unable or unwilling to give up.  Delusional systems may also develop as a result of having felt betrayed and humiliated.  Here we may see the rapid unfolding of persecutory delusions and an arrogant grandiosity characterized by verbal attacks and bombast.” (Millon, 2011, pp. 407-408).

This pathology is a delusion, a false narrative, created in the unresolved childhood trauma of the parent and displayed for the benefit of “bystander” therapists and legal professionals.  All mental health professionals who are involved in assessing, diagnosing, and treating this form of delusional trauma reenactment pathology must possess an expertise in the recognition of encapsulated persecutory delusions associated with narcissistic and borderline personality pathology.

To create the false trauma reenactment narrative in the current family, all the narcissistic/(borderline) parent must do is manipulate the child into adopting the role as the “victimized child” in the false trauma reenactment narrative. 

Once the child adopts the role as the “victimized child,” this immediately imposes the “abusive parent” role onto the normal-range targeted parent, irrespective of the actual parenting practices of this parent.  The child’s role as the “victimized child” automatically places the targeted parent into the trauma reenactment role as the “abusive parent.”

And when the child adopts the role as the “victimized child,” this also allows the allied narcissistic/(borderline) parent to then adopt and conspicuously display to others the coveted role as the all-wonderful “protective parent.”  The moment the child is manipulated into adopting the false “victimized child” role in the trauma reenactment narrative, then both of the other trauma reenactment roles are immediately assigned to the respective parents and the stage is set for the reenactment of the childhood attachment trauma of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent.

The pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture is a trauma-related pathology.  All mental health professionals involved in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of this form of trauma-related pathology must have a strong clinical expertise in complex developmental trauma, including the symptom features of authentic trauma and trauma reenactment.

“When the trauma fails to be integrated into the totality of a person’s life experiences, the victim remains fixated on the trauma.  Despite avoidance of emotional involvement, traumatic memories cannot be avoided: even when pushed out of waking consciousness, they come back in the form of reenactments, nightmares, or feelings related to the trauma… Recurrences may continue throughout life during periods of stress.” (van der Kolk, 1987, p. 5)

Professional Competence

The pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture is a complex attachment-related; trauma-related; personality disorder-related; family systems pathology requiring a sophisticated level of professional expertise to competently assess, diagnose, and treat. 

Due to the complexity of this form of family attachment-related pathology, the children and families evidencing this form of family pathology (i.e., the child’s rejection of a parent surrounding divorce that includes high inter-spousal conflict) warrant the designation as a “special population” requiring specialized professional knowledge and expertise to competently assess, diagnose, and treat.

This type of family pathology requires specialized professional knowledge and expertise in the following domains of professional psychology in order to competently assess, diagnose, and treat:

The Attachment System: Particularly the characteristic functioning and characteristic dysfunctioning of the attachment system, including the grief response and “disordered mourning.”

Attachment Trauma: Particularly the indicators reflecting the trans-generational transmission of attachment trauma through the creation of a false trauma-reenactment narrative.

Personality Disorder Pathology: Particularly the origins, assessment, and diagnosis of narcissistic and borderline personality pathology; with a particular focus on the associations of narcissistic and borderline personality pathology to childhood attachment trauma;

Family Systems Therapy: Particularly the diagnostic features of the child’s triangulation into the spousal conflict through the formation of a cross-generational coalition with one parent against the other parent.

Key professional literature to establish professional competence with this special population of children and families is:

Bowlby: regarding the attachment system

Ainsworth: regarding the attachment system

Mains & Lyons-Ruth: regarding disorganized attachment

Millon: regarding personality pathology

Beck: regarding personality pathology

Kernberg: regarding personality pathology

Linehan: regarding personality pathology

Minuchin: regarding Structural family systems therapy

Haley: regarding Strategic family systems therapy

van der Kolk: regarding childhood trauma

Failure to possess the necessary professional knowledge and expertise to competently assess, diagnose, and treat this complex form of attachment-related family pathology may represent practice beyond the boundaries of professional competence in violation of Standard 2.01a of the ethics code of the American Psychological Association.

DSM-5 Diagnosis

There is no defined pathology of “parental alienation” within clinical psychology.  The correct and accurate clinical psychology term for the attachment-related pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture is pathogenic parenting (patho=pathology; genic=genesis, creation).  Pathogenic parenting is the creation of significant psychopathology in the child through aberrant and distorted parenting practices.

The construct of pathogenic parenting is a defined construct in clinical and developmental psychology and is typically referenced with regard to attachment-related pathology, since the attachment system never spontaneously dysfunctions but only dysfunctions in response to pathogenic parenting.

The attachment-related pathology involving the trans-generational transmission of attachment-trauma from the childhood of a narcissistic/(borderline) parent to the current family relationships, mediated by personality disorder pathology of the parent that is itself a product of the childhood attachment trauma (a pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture) can be reliably and definitively identified by a set of three diagnostic indicators in the child’s symptom display:

1.) Attachment System Suppression: The suppression of the child’s normal-range attachment bonding motivations toward a parent represents diagnostic evidence for an attachment-related pathology involving pathogenic parenting.

2.) Narcissistic Personality Symptoms: The presence in the child’s symptom display of five specific a-priori predicted narcissistic personality traits represents the diagnostic evidence for the influence on the child’s attitudes, beliefs, and behavior from a narcissistic/(borderline) parent (i.e., the “psychological fingerprints” of control and influence on the child by a narcissistic/(borderline) parent).

3.) Delusional Belief in the Child’s Victimization: The child’s symptom display of an intransigently held fixed and false belief (a delusion) regarding the child’s supposed “victimization” by the normal-range parenting practices of the targeted parent represents diagnostic evidence of the child’s incorporation into the false trauma reenactment narrative of the allied narcissistic/(borderline) parent who is influencing the child’s attitudes, beliefs, and behavior.

The presence of all three diagnostic indicators in the child’s symptom display represents definitive diagnostic evidence of the pathology.  No other pathology in all of mental health will produce this specific set of three diagnostic indicators in the child’s symptom display other than pathogenic parenting by an allied narcissistic/(borderline) parent as a manifestation of the trans-generational transmission of attachment-trauma from the childhood of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent to the current family relationships, mediated by the personality disorder pathology of the parent that is itself a product of the childhood attachment trauma (an attachment-related pathology traditionally called “parental alienation” in the common culture).

Pathogenic parenting that is creating significant developmental pathology in the child (diagnostic indicator 1), personality pathology in the child (diagnostic indicator 2), and delusional-psychiatric pathology in the child (diagnostic indicator 3) in order to meet the emotional and psychological needs of the parent represents a DSM-5 diagnosis of V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse, Confirmed.

The complete DSM-5 diagnosis for this form of attachment-related pathology is:

DSM-5 Diagnosis

309.4  Adjustment Disorder with mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct

V61.20 Parent-Child Relational Problem

V61.29 Child Affected by Parental Relationship Distress

V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse, Confirmed (pathogenic parenting)

Failure to properly assess for this form of attachment-related pathology when a child is displaying a rejection of a parent surrounding divorce would likely represent a violation of Standard 9.01a of the APA’s ethics code which requires that diagnostic statements, including forensic testimony, be based on information “sufficient to substantiate” the findings.  If an appropriate assessment of the pathology has not been conducted, then the diagnostic statements are NOT based on information “sufficient to substantiate” the findings.

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

References

Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and Loss: Vol. 3. Loss: Sadness and Depression. NY: Basic Books.

Haley, J. (1977). Toward a theory of pathological systems. In P. Watzlawick & J. Weakland (Eds.), The interactional view (pp. 31-48). New York: Norton.

Juni, S. (1995).  Triangulation as splitting in the service of ambivalence. Current Psychology: Research and Reviews, 14, 91-111.

Kernberg, O.F. (1975). Borderline conditions and pathological narcissism. New York: Aronson.

Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and Family Therapy. Harvard University Press.

Pearlman, C.A., Courtois, C.A. (2005). Clinical Applications of the Attachment Framework: Relational Treatment of Complex Trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18, 449-459.

van der Kolk, B.A. (1987). The psychological consequences of overwhelming life experiences. In B.A. van der Kolk (Ed.) Psychological Trauma (1-30). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, Inc.

From Wikipedia:

The germ theory of disease states that some diseases are caused by microorganisms.  These small organisms, too small to see without magnification, invade humans, animals, and other living hosts.  Their growth and reproduction within their hosts can cause a disease.  “Germ” may refer to not just a bacterium but to any type of microorganisms, especially one which causes disease, such as protist, fungus, virus, prion, or viroid.   Microorganisms that cause disease are called pathogens, and the diseases they cause are called infectious diseases.  Even when a pathogen is the principal cause of a disease, environmental and hereditary factors often influence the severity of the disease, and whether a particular host individual becomes infected when exposed to the pathogen.

The germ theory was proposed by Girolamo Fracastoro in 1546, but scientific evidence in support of this accumulated slowly and Galen’s miasma theory remained dominant among scientists and doctors.  A transitional period began in the late 1850s as the work of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch provided convincing evidence; by 1880, miasma theory was still competing with the germ theory of disease.  Eventually, a “golden era” of bacteriology ensued, in which the theory quickly led to the identification of the actual organisms that cause many diseases

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ_theory_of_disease

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The continued use of the Gardnerian PAS construct (Parental Alienation Syndrome) is a major hindrance to enacting the solution for the family pathology traditionally called “parental alienation” in the common culture (i.e., the trans-generational transmission of attachment trauma from the childhood of the allied narcissistic/(borderline) parent to the current family relationships, mediated by the personality disorder pathology of the parent that is itself a product of the childhood attachment trauma of the parent).

1.)  The diagnostic indicators of Gardnerian PAS are too vague to be useful in clinical psychology.  The vague and ill-defined diagnostic indicators of Gardnerian PAS allow for the rampant professional incompetence currently displayed by far too many mental health professionals.

2.)  The Gardnerian PAS model is so poorly defined that it is “controversial” and is not accepted by establishment professional psychology.  This allows mental health professionals to discount the solution afforded by AB-PA (attachment-based “parental alienation”) under the false assertion that it is the same as Gardnerian PAS.  The continued existence of Gardnerian PAS prevents mental health professionals from examining the pathology using standard and fully established psychological principles and constructs.

The model of the pathology offered by Gardnerian PAS must die.  It is a bad model and leads to enormous problems. 

I am willing to debate this with any Gardnerian PAS “expert” anytime.  I propose we get a joint WordPress blog and present our arguments.  They can present why they think Gardnerian PAS offers a solution to “parental alienation” and I can offer my arguments as to why Gardnerian PAS needs to die.  I am willing to debate this with any Gardnerian PAS “expert” anytime. 

Or we can debate this in any other forum they’d like.  Anytime.  Gardnerian PAS must die.

The family pathology of “parental alienation” will be unsolvable as long as Gardnerian PAS remains an active paradigm for defining the pathology. 

Thirty years… no solution.  Scoreboard.

The definition of the family pathology of “parental alienation” must switch to an AB-PA model (attachment-based “parental alienation”).  This will provide an immediate solution to the family pathology.

Achieving Professional Competence

The attachment system represents the set of brain networks governing all aspects of love and bonding throughout the lifespan.  The attachment system functions in characteristic ways, and it dysfunctions in characteristic ways.

The pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture is an attachment-related pathology.  A child’s rejection of a parent is a disorder to the attachment system. 

The pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture represents the trans-generational transmission of attachment trauma mediated through a false trauma reenactment narrative in the pattern of “abusive parent”/”victimized child”/”protective parent” that is the product of the “internal working models” (schemas) of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent’s attachment-trauma networks.

All mental health professionals must begin assessing for the attachment-related pathology of AB-PA whenever there is evidence of a suppression to the child’s normal-range attachment bonding motivations toward a parent, particularly surrounding divorce and high inter-spousal conflict.

Diagnostic Checklist for Pathogenic Parenting

All mental health professionals must begin providing an accurate DSM-5 diagnosis when the three diagnostic indicators of AB-PA are present in the child’s symptom display:

Pathogenic parenting that is creating significant developmental pathology in the child (diagnostic indicator 1), personality pathology in the child (diagnostic indicator 2), and delusional-psychiatric pathology in the child (diagnostic indicator 3) in order to meet the emotional and  psychological needs of the parent represents a DSM-5 diagnosis of V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse, Confirmed.

Pathogenic parenting (patho=pathology; genic=genesis; creation) is the accurate clinical psychology term for this form of family pathology – not “parental alienation.” 

Pathogenic parenting is the creation of significant psychopathology in the child through aberrant and distorted parenting practices. 

All mental health professionals should begin using the accurate clinical psychology terminology to refer to this form of family pathology.  Targeted parents and the general population can still refer to this pathology with the common-culture term of “parental alienation,” but all mental health professionals should use the correct and accurate clinical psychology term for this form of pathology; pathogenic parenting (the creation of psychopathology in the child through aberrant and distorted parenting practices).

All targeted parents must begin holding mental health professionals accountable for properly assessing and diagnosing this form of family pathology (i.e., the trans-generational transmission of attachment trauma from the childhood of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent to the current family relationships, mediated by the personality disorder pathology of the parent which is itself a product of the childhood attachment trauma of this parent).

All targeted parents must request a proper assessment of the pathology and should lay the proper “paper trail” to hold the mental health professional accountable under Standard 9.01a and Standard 2.01a of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association.

These are established standards of professionally competent practice in professional psychology.  Mental health professionals are not allowed to be incompetent.

AB-PA activates for targeted parents Standard 9.01a and Standard 2.01a of the APA’s ethics code. 

Gardnerian PAS does not activate these Standards of professional practice.  Gardnerian PAS proposes an entirely new and unique form of pathology that is unlike any other pathology is all of mental health and which is identified by an equally unique set of poorly defined symptom identifiers.

By analogy, Gardnerian PAS represents “Galen’s miasma theory” of disease which proposed that disease is caused by “bad air.”  Just as Galen’s miasma theory was replaced by a more scientifically accurate germ theory (an accurate identification of the pathogen causing the pathology), Gardnerian PAS needs to be replaced by a more scientifically accurate attachment-based description of the pathology (AB-PA) in order to create the solution to the pathology of “parental alienation” (pathogenic parenting in high-conflict divorce).

Targeted parents need to begin fighting for each other; to eliminate active professional incompetence for the next family and the next child.  To do this, targeted parents need to:

• Provide mental health professionals who are involved with your family with the Diagnostic Checklist for Pathogenic Parenting. 

• Provide involved mental health professionals with the booklet Professional Consultation. 

• Provide involved mental health professionals with my email address (drcraigchildress@gmail.com) and ask that the mental health professional involved with your family seek professional-to-professional consultation with me.

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I will provide one hour of professional-to-professional consultation without charge to any mental health professional who contacts me by email requesting this professional-to-professional consultation.

Please Note: I cannot provide consultation to targeted parents directly unless you come and see me in my office in Southern California.  I can only provide professional consultation to other mental health professionals who are diagnosing and treating cases of AB-PA or to attorneys who are litigating cases of AB-PA.  This limitation is based on the guidelines governing professional standards of practice.

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Targeted parents should lay the “paper trail” regarding your request to the mental health professional that he or she assess the pathology of… pathogenic parenting (AB-PA).  Be kind, not demanding.  Be respectful, not arrogant.  But be clear in what you want.

And document your request of the mental health professional in a letter to the mental health professional.  This lays the “paper trail” to hold the mental health professional accountable.

Document in this letter that you have provided the mental health professional with the Diagnostic Checklist for Pathogenic Parenting.

Document in this letter that you have requested that the mental health professional assess for the specific symptoms identified in the Diagnostic Checklist for Pathogenic Parenting.  

Document in this letter that you have provided the mental health professional with the booklet Professional Consultation and with my email address.

Document in this letter that you are requesting that the mental health professional seek a professional-to-professional consultation with Dr. Childress.

Lay the paper trail.  Remember, your letter is ultimately going to be included with your licensing board complaint.  Don’t be angry.  Be measured, reasonable, and appropriate.

I recommend you read:  Letter to a Stranger

The “Letter to a Stranger” is a strategy for advocacy in a school setting.  I recommend that you apply this strategy in advocating in a mental health setting.  In this specific case the “stranger” is the licensing board who will ultimately review the actions of the mental health professional.  You want to seem reasonable.  Not angry.  Not arrogant.  Not demanding. 

You want to be kind, reasonable, and oh-so-concerned for the emotional and psychological well-being of your child.  And clear in your request.

Dear Dr. So-n-So,

As we discussed in our recent meeting, I am deeply concerned regarding the potential pathogenic parenting of my ex-spouse that is creating significant behavioral and emotional pathology in my child.  I love my child dearly and I am deeply distressed by the changes to my child’s behavior surrounding the divorce that I believe are the product of my ex-spouse triangulating our child into the family conflict surrounding the divorce, in which a cross-generational coalition of my ex-spouse with the child has been formed that is severely distorting my child’s relationship with me.

This letter is to confirm that I have provided you with a copy of the Diagnostic Checklist for Pathogenic Parenting developed by Dr. Childress which is designed to specifically assess for the pathology of pathogenic parenting in the family that is of concern to me, and this letter also confirms that I have asked that you specifically assess for the symptom features identified on this symptom checklist.  I love my child dearly and I deeply appreciate your cooperation in assessing specifically for the pathology identified on this symptom checklist, and I look forward to discussing with you the outcome of your assessment.

Dr. Childress is an expert in the attachment-related pathology of pathogenic parenting surrounding high-conflict divorce and he has indicated that he is available for professional-to-professional consultation if this professional consultation is sought by mental health professionals.  His email address is drcraigchildress@gmail.com, and I am also asking that you seek his professional-to-professional consultation that he may more fully describe the nature of the family dynamics that are of concern to me.

Thank you so much for your cooperation with this.  My child means the world to me, and all I want is to restore the loving bonds of affection we shared prior to the divorce.  All children deserve to love both parents and to receive the love of both parents in return, and I truly appreciate your help in restoring the bonds of deep love and affection between my child and me that have been so severely disrupted by the divorce process.

Sincerely,
Loving Parent

Become Dangerous to Incompetence

In defining AB-PA from entirely within standard and established psychological principles and constructs, I have made targeted parents dangerous to incompetent mental health professionals.  Become dangerous.  We need to ensure that all actively incompetent mental health professions will – with 100% certainty – face licensing board complaints for their professional incompetence. 

It may not change your specific situation with your specific child, but you must fight for each other.  You must ensure that ALL actively incompetent mental health professionals will – with 100% certainty – face a licensing board complaint for their professional incompetence so that the next family they treat will receive professionally competent assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.  You must fight for each other and for each others’ children.  You must fight for the next family.

I guarantee that your allies in mental health, the mental health professionals who properly assess and accurately diagnose the pathology of AB-PA will – with 100% certainty – face a licensing board complaint from your narcissistic/(borderline) ex-spouse.

Narcissistic/(Borderline) Parent: “How dare you say I am psychologically abusive of the child.  The child and I have a wonderful bond of shared affection.  You’re incompetent to say our wonderful bond of shared affection is psychologically abusive of the child.  It’s the other parent who is the abusive parent.  You’re incompetent.” – a licensing board complaint will be filed by the narcissistic/(borderline) parent.

I guarantee that your allies in mental health, the mental health professionals who properly assess and accurately diagnose the pathology of AB-PA, will – with 100% certainty – face a licensing board complaint from your narcissistic/(borderline) ex-spouse.

Targeted parents must stand up for us, for your allies in mental health who properly assess for the family pathology of AB-PA and who have the courage to face the licensing board complaint from your narcissistic/(borderline) ex-spouse that is certain to follow from our accurate diagnosis of the family pathology as V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse, Confirmed .

The way you can protect your allies in mental health is to become as dangerous to the ignorant and incompetent mental health allies of the pathogen as the pathogen is to your mental health allies.

We must ensure that every single mental health professional who is assessing, diagnosing, and treating this form of family pathology (i.e., attachment system suppression surrounding high-conflict divorce) will – with 100% certainty – face a licensing board complaint:

Either from the narcissistic/(borderline) parent if the mental health professional makes the accurate DSM-5 diagnosis of the pathology as V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse, Confirmed…

Or from the targeted parent if the mental health professional does not assess for the pathology and does not make an accurate DSM-5 diagnosis of the pathology when the three diagnostic indicators of pathogenic parenting are present in the child’s symptom display.

You, the child’s authentic protective parent, must ensure that one way or the other ALL mental health professionals who are assessing, diagnosing, and treating the pathology of attachment system suppression in high-conflict divorce will – with 100% certainty – face a licensing board complaint, either from your narcissistic/(borderline) ex- or from you.

When the field becomes incredibly dangerous for ALL mental health professionals, many mental health professionals may withdraw from practice in this area of specialty.  Good.

If 98 out of 100 mental health professionals stop practicing in this domain of psychology it means that 98 ignorant and incompetent mental health professionals are no longer assessing, diagnosing, and treating your families.  The two remaining mental health professionals will know what they’re doing and they will accurately assess and diagnose the pathology. 

They will use the Diagnostic Checklist for Pathogenic Parenting and will document the findings of their assessment in the patient record. 

And they will make an accurate DSM-5 diagnosis of V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse, Confirmed when the three diagnostic indicators of pathogenic parenting are present in the child’s symptom display.

We will have established a domain of specialized professional expertise and a defensible standard of practice for the assessment and diagnosis of the pathology as child psychological abuse.

Will the licensing board do anything about your complaint?  No, probably not.  But it doesn’t matter what the licensing board does.  We cannot control what they do.  If they choose to allow professional incompetence, so be it. 

But you are not fighting for your child alone; you are fighting for each others’ children.  You are fighting for the next targeted parent and the next child who comes to this mental health professional.  You are demanding professional competence in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of this pathology.

Gardnerian PAS Must Die

There is no such pathology in clinical psychology as Gardnerian PAS.  It doesn’t exist. 

No one is talking about Gardnerian PAS.  The pathology is AB-PA (i.e., an attachment-based model of “parental alienation” that is fully defined within established and accepted psychological principles and constructs).  Gardnerian PAS must die in order for us to achieve the solution.

We must begin to hold mental health professionals accountable for standards of professional competence defined through fully established, fully accepted, and scientifically validated forms of mental health pathology – an AB-PA definition of the pathology.

An attachment-based model of “parental alienation is not a theory.  The application of standard and established psychological principles and constructs to a symptom set is called diagnosis.

Assessment leads to diagnosis. Diagnosis guides treatment.

Assessment:  Diagnostic Checklist for Pathogenic Parenting

Diagnosis:  Pathogenic parenting that is creating significant developmental pathology in the child (diagnostic indicator 1), personality pathology in the child (diagnostic indicator 2), and delusional-psychiatric pathology in the child (diagnostic indicator 3) in order to meet the emotional and psychological needs of the parent represents a DSM-5 diagnosis of V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse, Confirmed.

Professional psychology must return to the solid bedrock of established and scientifically validated constructs and principles in the assessment and diagnosis of the family pathology called “parental alienation” in the common culture (i.e., pathogenic parenting by an allied narcissistic/(borderline) parent)

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

From Wikipedia:

Medieval medicine in Western Europe was composed of a mixture of existing ideas from antiquity, spiritual influences and what Claude Lévi-Strauss identifies as the “shamanistic complex” and “social consensus.”

In the Early Middle Ages, following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, standard medical knowledge was based chiefly upon surviving Greek and Roman texts, preserved in monasteries and elsewhere.  Many simply placed their hopes in the church and God to heal all their sicknesses.  Ideas about the origin and cure of disease were not purely secular, but were also based on a world view in which factors such as destiny, sin, and astral influences played as great a part as any physical cause.  The efficacy of cures was similarly bound in the beliefs of patient and doctor rather than empirical evidence, so that remedia physicalia (physical remedies) were often subordinate to spiritual intervention.

The underlying principle of medieval medicine was the theory of humours.  This was derived from the ancient medical works, and dominated all western medicine until the 19th century.  The theory stated that within every individual there were four humours, or principal fluids – black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood, these were produced by various organs in the body, and they had to be in balance for a person to remain healthy.  Too much phlegm in the body, for example, caused lung problems; and the body tried to cough up the phlegm to restore a balance.  The balance of humours in humans could be achieved by diet, medicines, and by blood-letting, using leeches.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_medicine_of_Western_Europe

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Our current mental health approach to the family pathology traditionally called “parental alienation” in the popular culture is absolutely medieval. 

“Bring me the leeches.”

The degree of professional ignorance and incompetence is incredibly profound.  Professional psychology should be ashamed of itself.

“The patient’s humours are clearly out of balance. There is too much phlegm.  We must balance the patient’s humours to restore good health.  Bring me the leeches, we must bleed the patient.”

There is no such thing as “reunification therapy.”  Nowhere in any of the professional literature is there a defined model for what “reunification therapy” entails.  No theorist.  No description.  Nothing.  Nowhere.  They are just making stuff up – completely making stuff up.  Any mental health professional who says they do “reunification therapy” is selling snake oil.  Who knows what’s in the bottle of elixir they’re selling.

There is no such thing as “reunification therapy.”  It doesn’t exist. 

“Bring me the leeches.”

There are NO studies – not one – demonstrating the validity of the conclusions and recommendations of child custody evaluations.  Child custody evaluations spend extensive amounts of time collecting data and writing reports, but when it comes to interpreting what the data means – they just make it up.  Really.  They just make it up.  Whatever they feel like.

“The patient has too much black bile which is causing the patient to be overly melancholic.  Bring me the leeches.”

Seriously, it’s that bad.

I continually receive requests from targeted parents for help. 

“What can I do?  Do you know any therapists in wherever?”

I’m sorry, but as long as our mental health professionals are “diagnosing” an imbalance in humours, there is no hope whatsover.

It’s like going to a physician and being diagnosed with diabetes and being treated with insulin.  The problem is… what the patient actually has is cancer.  So the patient is treated with insulin and dies from the undiagnosed and untreated cancer.

That’s the state of our current mental health response to the family pathology traditionally called “parental alienation.”

But it’s even worse than that, because instead of receiving an even remotely accurate diagnosis and possibly effective treatment, the patient is actually diagnosed with an imbalance in their humours and is treated with leeches.  Oh my God.  I am astounded by the degree of professional ignorance and incompetence.

Because of the profound degree of professional ignorance – “bring me the leeches” – the patient is left to educate the professional.  Targeted parents must EDUCATE the mental health professional regarding the nature of the pathology.  Oh my God.  What sort of upside-down world is that?

Imagine going to a physician with symptoms of a disease and having to EDUCATE the physician regarding the nature of the disease you have.  That’s absurd.  Yet that’s exactly the situation targeted parents face.  Because the degree of professional ignorance is so incredibly profound, the patient has no choice but to try to educate the professional.  Bizarre.  Truly bizarre.

Imagine going to an architect and having to instruct the architect on the intricacies of load-bearing structures and blueprint design.

Imagine going to an attorney and having to instruct the attorney in the nature, precedent, and interpretations of the law.

Imagine going to a cardiac surgeon and having to instruct the surgeon on the nature of the circulatory system and then educate the surgeon on surgical procedures.

Imagine having to instruct the mental health professional regarding the nature of the mental health pathology and its treatment.

Bizarre.  Truly bizarre.  Professional psychology should be ashamed of itself.

The current state of professional psychology with regard to the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of the family pathology traditionally called “parental alienation” is absolutely medieval.  Bring me the leeches.

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