PARENTAL ALIENATION — SCIENCE AND LAW

Abstract

   

arental alienation (PA), a serious mental condition that affects hundreds of thousands of children and families in the United States, has been described in legal cases since the early 19th century1 and in the mental health literature since the 1940’s.2 Mental health professionals, family law attorneys, and ordinary citizens observe PA every day, even if they do not know that the phenomenon has a name, where it comes from, or what to do about it. There has been a vast extent of descriptive, qualitative research and

a more limited amount of quantitative research regarding PA.

Despite the extensive professional literature regarding this topic and the growing number of trial and appellate courts that have accepted the impor-tance of PA, there continues to be a small group of outspoken critics and detractors who deny the significance or even the existence of this mental condition. The chapters of this book will address PA through two perspec-tives: first, a detailed discussion of some aspect of PA with appropriate cita-tions to the mental health and legal literature; and, second, a summary of what PA detractors and deniers have stated regarding that topic with clearly documented rebuttals of those statements, i.e., a debunking of the de-bunkers. This bifid approach—a statement of the positive arguments that sup-port the reality and significance of PA joined with a refutation of the argu-ments against PA—will demonstrate the importance of PA for clinicians as well as the admissibility of testimony regarding PA in courts in the U.S. Of course, that is why the title of this book refers to “science” and “law.”