PA-detractors | Om Parental Alienation (föräldraalienation)

Personer som förtalar PA-begreppet, förnekar fenomenets exi-stens och lurar andra genom att inte redovisa den gedigna PA-litte-raturen, bedrägerier på akademisk nivå mm.
(People who denigrate the PA concept, deny the existence of the phenomenon and fool others by not refer to the solid PA literature, deceptions at academic level etc.)

Respons på Roks artikel (ETC, 16 okt. 2024) mot PA-begreppet, 7 okt., 2024:1-7.

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Med en gång ska sägas att arbetet av Joan Meier et al. (2019) enligt min uppfattning rakt igenom är så dåligt att det snarast liknar vetenskapligt bedrägeri (se även analys av Harman & Lorandos 2020). Artikeln har inte ens genomgått oberoende peer-reviewgranskning före publicering och måste därför anses vara värdelös. En närmare redogörelse för sammanhangen hittas längre ned på denna sida. Samma sak gäller flera andra arbeten som rimligen måste anses oseriösa. /BC, januari, 2024.

Karaktärsdrag hos en del av de som är emot PA-begreppet

(Characteristics of some of those who are against the PA concept

Rasgos (de carácter) de algunos de quienes están/de los que están en contra del concepto de AP)

[Behöver hjälp med att justera spanskan]

1. De diskuterar i praktiken aldrig de metoder och strategier som alienerande föräldrar använder. De vill uppenbarligen inte att metoderna och strategierna ska bli kända. Med tanke på effekterna på barnen är detta oetiskt och går inte att förstå.
(In practice, they never discuss the methods and strategies alienating parents use. Obviously they don't like the idea of general awareness of the methods and strategies. When considering the effects on the children this is unethical and impossible to understand.)

2. De diskuterar i praktiken aldrig varför alienerade barn uppvisar de typiska PA-symtomen/beteen-dena.
(In practice, they never discuss why alienated children show the typical PAS symptoms/behaviors.)

3. Inget tyder på att de själva drabbats av en PA-situation.

4. De hänvisar i praktiken aldrig på ett seriöst sätt till den vetenskapliga litteraturen på området. Pga stereotypt tänkande klassificerar de allt möjligt i termer av svart eller vitt. Detta, som ytterst härrör från Platon, kallas typologiskt tänkande och står i total motsats till evolutionsbiologin där (biologisk) variation är ett huvudtema (Ernst Mayr) - det naturliga är inte ett "typiskt ideal" utan istället varia-tion. Den besatta typologen väljer argument som man väljer favoritbakelser på ett konditori. Argument skapas exempelvis genom att sakresonemang klipps ut från eventuella källor så syftningar blir fel och texter mm kan feltolkas (samma teknik som vissa religiösa kulter och andra fanatiker använder).

5. Vissa driver en linje att man alltid kan lita på vad barn säger (vilket litteraturen klart säger är en felaktig uppfattning).

6. De försöker göra PA till en genusfråga.

(They try to make PA a gender issue).

7. De tjafsar om formalia istället för saken. T ex om det ska kallas PA eller något annat.

8. De använder personangrepp mot dem som arbetar med PA-problematiken - t ex genom att lägga till något som de sedan slår på istället för att diskutera de sakfrågor och/eller vetenskapliga m fl källor personerna tar upp (s k argumentum ad hominem).

9. De försöker undanhålla andra från information om PA - eller alternativt förvränger informationen på ett missvisande sätt. De är alltså extremt emot att personer som inte delar deras åsikter ens ska få yttra sig. Hit hör manipulation av vad vissa begrepp står för - alternativt försöker de t o m att för-bjuda användningen av vissa ord - allt för att sabotera meningsfull kommunikation om vad det nu är.

10. Vissa aktörer tjänar pengar på långdragna vårdnadstvister och motverkar därmed barnens bästa intressen.

11. Många som är emot PA-begreppet är också emot att barn ska kunna växa upp med båda sina tillräckligt bra föräldrar.
(Many of those who are against the PA concept are also against the idea that children should be able to grow up with both his/her good enough parents.)

Avslutningsvis ska sägas att för många aspekter på PA krävs ingen särskild utbildning för att man ska förstå dem: T ex att ett barn kan tycka att den förälder som kommer med störst godispåsar (och inte bara på lördagar) är den bästa. Eller att en förälder kan skrämma ett barn till att inte tala sanning.

SKANDALPUBLIKATION: Det har, genom kontakt med dekanus för juridiska institutionen vid George Washington University (januari 2022), framkommit att den grovt missvisande artikeln om PA som professor Meier publicerade år 2019 aldrig genomgått en oberoende granskning av specialister inom området. Detta i kombination med att artikeln var genom-sållad med felaktiga antaganden, teoretiska fel mm (fler detaljer längre ned på denna sida) gör att Meiers artikel inte är mer värd än att läsa horoskop - personligen anser jag att artikeln kan ses som gränsfall mot vetenskapligt bedrägeri. Det här är viktigt med tanke på den skada artikeln ställt till med internationellt.

Artiklar mm som antingen bemött PA-motståndare och där det förklarats varför de har fel, alternativt där det förklaras vanliga missförstånd om vad PA-teori innebär

Richard A. Warshak, Current Controversies Regarding Parental Alienation Syndrome. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, Vol. 19(3), 2001:29-59.

Demosthenes Lorandos, Parental Alienation Syndrome Detractors and the Junk Science Vacuum. Chapter 31, pp. 397-418: in The International Handbook of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Conceptual, Clinical and Legal Considerations (Editors: Richard Gardner, S. Richard Sauber, Demosthenes Lorandos), Charles C. Thomas Publisher Ltd, 2006.

Linda Nielsen, Woozles: Their Role in Custody Law Reform, Parenting Plans, and Family Court.

Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, Vol. 20(2), 2014:164-180.

Richard A. Warshak, Ten parental alienation fallacies that compromise decisions in court and in therapy. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Vol. 46(4), 2015:235-249.

Richard A. Warshak, Stemming the tide of misinformation: International consensus on shared parenting and overnighting. Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, Vol. 30(1), 2017:177-217.

William Bernet, Parental alienation and misinformation. Family Court Review, Vol. 58(2), 2020:293-307.

William Bernet, Recurrent Misinformation Regarding Parental Alienation Theory. The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 51(4), 2023:334-355.

William Bernet & Shenmeng Xu, Scholary rumors: Citation analysis of vast misinformation regarding parental alienation theory. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, Vol. 41(5), 2023:231-245.

Yaakov Aichenbaum, William Bernet, Björn Cedervall, Jennifer J. Harman, Alejandro Mendoza-Amaro and Alissa Sherry. A Comprehensive Review of Misinformation and Other Inaccuracies in Challenging Parental Alienation: New Directions for Professionals and Parents. Created by Parental Alienation Study Group
Nashville, Tennessee, USA and Global Action for Research Integrity in Parental Alienation Morelia, Michoacán, México, March 2023:1-122.

Version på spanska (Version in Spanish):
Una Revisión Integral de la Información Errónea y Otras Imprecisiones en Desafiando la Alienación Parental: Nuevas Directrices para Profesionales y Padres. Creado por Parental Alienation Study Group Nashville, Tennessee, Estados Unidos y Global Action for Research Integrity in Parental Alienation Morelia, Michoacán, México, Marzo, 2023:1-121.

Yaakov Aichenbaum, William Bernet, Björn Cedervall, Bartlomiej Brzozowski, Bärbel Hellstern, Stan Korosi, Brian Ludmer, Philip Marcus and Alejandro Mendoza-Amaro,

An Analysis of the Report by the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls, Its Causes and Consequences to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council by Parental Alienation Study Group, Nashville, Tennessee, USA and Global Action for Research Integrity in Parental Alienation, Morelia, Michoacán, México, June 2, 2023:1-68.

Version på spanska (Version in Spanish):

Un Análisis del Informe de la Relatora Especial Sobre la Violencia Contra las Mujeres y las Niñas, sus Causas y Consecuencias al Consejo de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas. Presentado al Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas por Parental Alienation Study Group Nashville, Tennessee, Estados Unidos y Global Action for Research Integrity in Parental Alienation, Morelia, Michoacán, México, June 2, 2023:1-69.

Edward Kruk & Jennifer J. Harman, Countering Arguments Against Parental Alienation as A Form of Family Violence and Child Abuse. American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 5X(X), 2024:1-30 (in press).

Linda B. Gottlieb & Loretta Maase, The Specious Anti-Syndrome Claim about Parental Alienation Syn-drome (PAS): Compromising Court Decisions and Therapeutic Outcomes and Perpetuating Child Abuse. Parental Alienation International, Vol. 9(5), 2024:12-14.

List B: Some publications misrepresenting the PA concept

including rebuttals etc

(List A with PA articles which represent the concept in a reasonable way is found on the page with more proper peer-review articles)

"Scholarly rumors involve] a cohort of scholars who misquote research and then quote one another, without checking back to the original source. This is a problem typically caused when authors who have strong ideological or activist views rely primarily upon secondary data sources …. The rumor may begin when there is simply some misunderstanding and miscommunication of research findings, or it may originate in more egregious use of strategies that discredit others' research findings."

Janet R. Johnston, Family Court Review, Vol. 45(1), 2007:15-21 (page 18).

(also cited by Bernet & Xu, Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 2023)

To comment all the published misrepresentations of the PA theory and concept would probably require the equivalent of many hundreds of pages detailing erroneous assump-tions and methodologies, data biased statistics, logical flaws and blends with preconceived ideas and political view-points. Therefore the list below probably will expand over a course of several years. What is referred to below are, however, should be sufficient to show how some authors consciously or unconsciously have sabotaged what is known about parental alienation. As an introduction to the topic of misrepresentation of PA I suggest the articles by Deirdre C. Rand and William Bernet in Am. J. Fam. Therapy below, and also Parental Alienation: Science and Law (D. Lorandos & W. Bernet Eds., 2020, pp. 30-36), /BC, 8 August 2024.

American Journal of Family Therapy

Deirdre C. Rand, Parental Alienation Critics and the Politics of Science. The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 39(1), 2011:48-71.

Miguel Clemente, Dolores Padilla-Racero, Manuel Gandoy-Crego, Adela Reig-Botella & Ruben Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Judicial Decision-Making in Family Law Proceedings. The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 43(4), 2015:314-325.
Rebuttal: Amy J. Baker, Linda Kase, Gottlieb & Maria Cristina Verrocchio, The reality of parental alienation: Commentary on "judicial decision-making in family law proceedings," by Clemente, Padilla-Racero, Gandoy-Crego, Reig-Botella, and Gonzalez-Rodriguez. The American Journal of Family Therapy,Vol. 44(1), 2016:46-51.

William Bernet, Recurrent Misinformation Regarding Parental Alienation Theory. The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 51(4), 2023:334-355.

Child Abuse & Neglect

Jodi Death, Claire Ferguson & Kylie Burgess, Parental alienation, coaching and the best interests of the child: Allegations of child sexual abuse in the Family Court of Australia. Child Abuse & Neglect, Vol. 94(Article 104045), 2019:1-10.
Child and Family Law Journal

John E.B. Myers & Jean Mercer, Parental Alienation in Family Court: Attacking Expert Testimony. Child and Family Law Journal, Vol. 10(1), 2022:68-111.
I samband med en rättegång i Michigan säger Mercer, som svar på frågor, att hon inte arbetat med klinisk psyko-logi och också att hon varken är specialist, subspecialist eller expert på PA (Circuit Court of Kent, 27 april, 2021, Case No. 10-10482-DM, sid 6-10 samt 122-125).

Child and Family Social Work

Simon Lapierre, Patrick Ladouceur, Naomi Abrahams, Alexandra Vincent & Michèle Frenette, Abused Women as ‘Alienating’ Mothers and Violent Men as ‘Good’ Fathers: Double Standards in Child Protection and Child Custody Proceedings. Child and Family Social Work, 30 December, 2024:1-12.

Children and Youth Services Review

Miguel Clemente & Dolores Padilla-Racero, Are children susceptible to manipulation? The best interest of children and their testimony. Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 56, April 2015:101-107.

William Bernet, Maria Cristina Verrocchio & Stanley Korosi, Yes, children are susceptible to manipulation: Commentary on article by Clemente and Padilla-Racero. Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 56, September 2015:135-138.

Children’s Legal Rights Journal

Jennifer Hoult, The Evidentiary Admissibility of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Science, Law, and Policy. Children’s Legal Rights Journal, Vol. 26(1), 2006:1-61.

Comment: William Bernet (2021) points at the following misleading statement by J. Hoult: “By diagnosing PAS solely on the basis of the child’s symptoms, the DDC tautologically presumes pathology, parental contribution, and lack of justification, the very factors that Gardner claimed distinguish PAS from other forms of [contact refusal]” (emphasis added) (p. 9)." W. Bernet (2021) writes: "When Hoult cited “DDC,” she was referring “differential diagnosis criteria” Gardner (2004a //Link to the manuscript - Gardner passed away in 2003//). Nothing in that article suggests that Gardner thought PAS could be diagnosed “solely on the basis of the child’s symptoms” or that an evaluator should “presume pathology, parental contribution, and lack of justification.”

Child Maltreatment

Kathleen C. Faller, The parental alienation syndrome: what is it and what data support it? Child Maltreatment, vol. 3(2), 1998:100-115.

Comments: 1. Faller's methods and actions were completely debunked by Demosthenes Lorandos (referring to legal scrutiny): Parental Alienation Toronto Conference (2009) - Demosthenes Lorandos, YouTube, 2016 (19 min 48 s->29 min 18 s). After close inspection and analysis by law and psychology experts it was concluded that Faller interviews with children were suggestive, coercive and untrustworthy. 2. Comment: One of Faller's erronous assumptions is that PAS is the same as physical and sexual abuse. 3. Comment: Faller attacks statements by Richard Gardner that probably are true in most situations but still are not ideologically correct.
Richard Gardner bemötte i 20 punkter Kathleen Fallers förfärliga hopkok genom ett Letter to the Editor. Child Maltreatment, Vol. 3(4), 1998:309-312. The whole article is here.

Family Court Review

William Bernet, Parental Alienation and Misinformation Proliferation. Family Court Review, Vol. 58(2), 2020:293-307.

Madelyn S. Milchman, Robert Geffner & Joan S. Meier, Ideology and rhetoric replace science and reason in
some parental alienation literature and advocacy: A critique. Family Court Review, Vol. 58(2), 2020:340-361.

William Bernet, Response to “Ideology and Rhetoric Replace Science and Reason in Some Parental Alienation Literature and Advocacy: A Critique,” by Milchman, Geffner, and Meier. Family Court Review, Vol. 58(2), 2020:362-367.

Demosthenes Lorandos, Response to Milchman, Geffner, and Meier Ideology and Rhetoric Replace Science and Reason in Some Parental Alienation Literature and Advocacy: A Critique. Family Court Review, Vol. 58(2), 2020:371-372. (No abstract is available)

Family Law Quarterly

Carol S. Bruch, Parental alienation syndrome and parental alienation: Getting it wrong in child custody cases. Family Law Quarterly, Vol. 35(3), 2001:527-552.

Comment: 1. Bruchs article has been completely debunked by Demosthenes Lorandos: Parental Alienation Toronto Conference (2009) - Demosthenes Lorandos, YouTube, 2016 (15 min 18 s->19 min 47 s). After close inspection and analysis by law and psychology experts it was concluded that Faller's interviews with children were suggestive, coercive and untrustworthy.

Here more from Dr. Lorandos (1*): "Citing to Faller's work nine times (2) and to Jon Conte and Ms. Wood four times, one wonders what sort of "research" professor of law Ms. Bruch might be. (3**) Professor Bruch begins her essay by misstating Gardner's central hypothesis. (ref. 4) She then explains that "Gardner first stated that PAS was present in approximately ninety percent of the children whose families were involved in custody litigation…..his initial estimates appear to have been dramatically overstated." (ref. 5) One has to wonder why she would neglect a work as important as the American Bar Association's Children Held Hostage in which Clawar and Rivlin describe as much as 80 % of custody cases involving the processes of alienation. (ref. 6) This, as is the whole "essay", is not scholarship, it is fuzzy thinking and misinformation."
(In: A rebuttal to Bruch's article parental alienation syndrome and parental alienation: Getting it wrong in child custody cases." Part of an article entitled "The Parental Alienation Syndrome in American law.")

* 1. B.A. Psychology - San Francisco State University 1969; M.A. Psychology – New School for Social Research 1972; Ph.D. Clinical Psychology – Union Graduate School 1978; J.D. Cum Laude, University of Detroit 1991.
Dr. Lorandos is a member of the State Bar of California and Michigan. He is licensed as a clinical psychologist in California and Michigan. He is the president of Psychlaw.net, l.l.c. 214 North Fourth Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 - www.psychlaw.net.

** 3. "Several attempts were made to contact Professor Bruch and to ascertain her background in science as well as to inquire about her article [csbruch@ucdavis.edu]. An assistant politely explained that she was too busy to respond."
Kommentar: Bruch missvisande och osakliga artikel bemöttes också av Gardner genom en skrivelse med rubriken Comments on Carol S. Bruch’s Article "Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation: Getting it Wrong in Child Custody Cases. Detta bemötande börjar så här: "Before addressing myself to the numerous misperceptions, distortions, and even fabrications that are to be found in this article, it is important to make a few comments about the author herself, especially with regard to her qualifications for writing this article. She is a research professor of law. From the biographical information provided about her on the University of California at Davis website, it is clear that she is a woman of accomplishment who has involved herself in many areas of the law. However, as important as her contributions may have been, there is nothing in her biographical information to indicate that she has spent significant time in family courts working directly with clients involved in child-custody disputes. Accordingly, she is very remote from the lawyers who are directly working with families involved in high conflict child-custody disputes. In short, she has not had significant experiences "in the trenches."

GWU Law School Public Law Research This is not a peer-reviewed publication!

Joan S. Meier, S. Dickson, C. O’Sullivan, L. Rosen & J. Hayes, Child custody outcomes in cases involving parental alienation and abuse allegations. GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 2019 –56, 2019:1-30. SSRN. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3448062
Kommentar: Det här arbetet granskades av D. Lorandos & J.J. Harman (Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, Vol. 27(2), 2021). Detta är från deras Abstract:
"...We failed to find any support for the conclusions made by Meier et al.. Parents found (vs. alleged) to have alienated their children, regardless of their gender, had greater odds of losing parenting time, losing custody of their children, and losing their case. These findings held even when the accusing parent had been found to have been abusive. Losses or decreases in custody were not found when the (alleged) alienated parent was found to have been abusive. Results indicate that the majority of courts carefully weigh allegations of all forms of family violence in their determinations about the best interests of children. These findings, along with several others, raise concerns that the methodological, analytical, and statistical problems we detail about Meier’s report that make her conclusions untrustworthy."

Infancia, Juventud y Ley

Dolores Padilla, El Síndrome de Alienación Parental no es un transtorno mental, problema relacional ni de conducta. Es una feroz resistencia a los avances en la igualdad entre hombres y mujeres. Infancia, Juventud y Ley, No. 4, 2013:58–73. Is this a peer-reviewed publication?

International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies

Lisa Fischel-Wolovick, Battered mothers and children in the courts: A lawyer's view. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, Vol. 17(3), 2020:246-261. Comment: According to my opinion, there are many problems with this paper - essentially misrepresenting the PA field: To document all the signs of ignorance, selection biases would occupy too much space here. It seems like the author does not even understand what is meant by a theory. The PA concept is, opposed to what is stated in the article, in the DSM-5 represented by five already existing diagnoses (as PA is about a complex pathological family dynamic).

Journal of Child Custody
(the name of the journal was changed around 2023/24 - the new name is Journal of Family Trauma Child Custody & Child Development)

Lenore E.A. Walker, Kristi L. Brantley & Justin A. Rigsbee, A Critical Analysis of Parental Alienation Syndrome and Its Admissibility in the Family Court. Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 1(2), 2004:47-74. A comment to this article appeared in Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 1(4), 2004:77-89 (Janet R. Johnston & Joan B. Kelly). Lenore Walker has clarified a negative attitude to the PA concept in several other articles.
Joan S. Meier, A Historical Perspective on Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation. Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 6(3-4), 2009:232-257.

Marjorie Gans Walters & Steven Friedlander, Finding a Tenable Middle Space: Understanding the Role of Clinical Interventions When a Child Refuses Contact with a Parent. Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 7(4), 2010:287-328.

Toby G. Kleinman & Philip Kaplan, Relaxation of rules for science detrimental to children. Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 13(1), 2016:72-87.

W. O’Donohue, L.T. Benuto & N. Bennett, Examining the validity of parental alienation syndrome. Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 13(2-3), 2016:113-125.

Comment: William Bernet (2021) points at the following incorrect sentences (representing misunderstanding of PA theory) by O'Donohue et al.: "Absent any scientific data at all, Gardener [sic] advanced the claim that when there is an alienating parent, a child will, fairly inevitably, develop a series of problematic behaviors and/or reactions. He also claimed that the reverse inference was valid; specifically, that clinicians could conclude that there is an alienating parent when they observed children exhibiting certain behaviors” (emphasis added) (p. 114)."

W. Bernet (2021) writes: " Both sentences are incorrect. PA advocates say that contact refusal is sometimes caused by the preferred parent’s alienating behaviors, but it may also have other causes. O’Donohue et al. provided no citation to Gardner or anyone else for these erroneous statements."

Madelyn Simring Milchman, Misogynistic cultural argument in parental alienation versus child sexual abuse cases. Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 14(4), 2017:211-233.

Bruna Calado, Henry Otgaar & Peter Muris, Are children better witnesses than adolescents? Developmental trends in different false memory paradigms. Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 15(4), 2019:330-348.
Jean Mercer, Are intensive parental alienation treatments effective and safe for children and adolescents? Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 16(1), 2019:67-113.
Jean Mercer, "Are intensive parental alienation treatments effective and safe for children and adolescents?": Correction. Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 16(4), 2019:408.

Joan S. Meier, Sean Dickson, Chris O’Sullivan & Leora N. Rosen, The Trouble with Harman and Lorandos’ Parental Alienation Allegations in Family Court Study. Journal of Child Custody, Vol. 19(3-4), 2022:295-317.

Journal of Family Trauma Child Custody & Child Development

(This is the former Journal of Child Custody - the name was changed around 2023/24)
This journal has published several articles that are against the PA concept. Some of these articles contain sentences that are incorrect, misleading or misinformative. I (BC) will come back to these articles separately.

Elizabeth Dalgarno, Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Donna Bramwell, Adrienne Barnett & Arpana Verma, Health-related experiences of family court and domestic abuse in England: A looming public health crisis. Journal of Family Trauma Child Custody & Child Development, Vol. 21(3), 2024:277-305.

Journal of Forensic Sciences

Vincenzo Puppo, Commentary On: An Objective Measure of Splitting in Parental Alienation: The Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire. Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 63(1), 2018:342.

Comments: First this author obviously is not acquainted with all the empirical studies of the PA dynamic. Second, PAS is based on eight symptoms and behaviors of the alienated child. The author makes an issue of whether the children have a "disease" or are mentally ill or not. Obviously, he does not understand that the symptoms and behaviors - and in particular the lack of ambivalence define what the child has experienced: A malicious parent who has attacked the child's loving relationship with the other parent. This phenomenon should not be called a "disease" - instead it is about a pathological family dynamic where the driving parent almost always has several psychiatric personality disorders (PS) combined (Narcissistic PD, Borderline PD, Anti-Social PD and often also paranoia are consistently mentioned in the professional litterature). The problem is not a semantic word game - what is important is what actions are taken to help the affected child. In my (BC) opinion, I find Puppo's comments irresponsible as they deflect a form of serious psychological child abuse - even the moderate level of PAS should be treated as a medical emergency. A formal and more detailed rebuttal appeared in William Bernet, Parental alienation and misinformation.Family Court Review, Vol. 58(2), 2020:293-307.

Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

Adrienne Barnett, A genealogy of hostility: parental alienation in England and Wales. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, Vol. 42(1), 2020:18-29. Comment: This article seems critical to the PA concept.

Glòria Casas Vila, Parental Alienation Syndrome in Spain: opposed by the Government but accepted in the Courts. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, Vol. 42(1), 2020:45-55.

Julie Doughty, Nina Maxwell & Tom Slater, Professional responses to ‘parentalalienation’: research-informed practice. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, Vol. 42(1), 2020:68-79.

Elizabeth Dalgarno, Donna Bramwell, Arpana Verma & Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, ‘Let’s excuse abusive men from abusing and enable sexual abuse’: child sexual abuse investigations in England’s private family courts. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, Vol. 46(3), 2024:345-365.

Judges Journal

Rebecca M. Thomas & James T. Richardson, Parental alienation syndrome: 30 years on and still junk science. Judges Journal, Vol. 54(3), 2015:22&24 . My opinion: This article shows an amazing level of ignorance, lacks meaningful references and adds nothing to the understanding of the PA concept.

Les Cahiers de Droit
Suzanne Zaccour, Parental alienation in Quebec custody litigation. Les Cahiers de Droit, Vol. 59(4), 2018:1073–1111. Anm. Felaktigt påstås det på sid 1097: "Both leading models of PA(S) rely on the child: Gardner diagnoses PAS based on eight symptoms found in the child and assumes the alienating parent’s responsibility …” (kursivt förtydligande)".

W. Bernet (Am J Fam Therapy, 2023) bemöter: "Neither Gardner nor PA proponents have made that assumption. Zaccour did not cite any resource for that incorrect statement."

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

Cheri L. Wood, The parental alienation syndrome: A dangerous aura of reliability. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review,27(4), 1994:1367–1415.

Comment: William Bernet (2021) points at the following misleading statement by C. Wood: "In short, the psychological stressors resulting from divorce demonstrate that children’s ill feelings toward either parent are often a natural part of the dissolution process. The list of explanations—which is illustrative rather than exhau-stive—that provides reasons for children having such feelings furnishes some credible alternatives to the PAS theory that when the children have ill feelings toward their fathers, their mother must be the cause” (emphasis added) (p. 1390).". W. Bernet (2021) writes: "There has never been a principle of PAS theory “that when the children have ill feelings toward their fathers, their mother must be the cause.” Wood provided no source for that statement."

Papeles del Psicólogo / Psychologist Papers

R. Vilalta & Maxime Winberg Noda, On the myth of parental alienation syndrome (PAS) and the DSM-5. Psychologist Papers, Vol. 38(3), 2017:224-231. Comments: The authors deflect from the PA issue in two ways:

1. They do not discuss PA as a pathological family dynamic - the focus is built around the semantics relating to PAS. 2. The concept of PA is built into five already existing diagnosis in the DSM-5.

Psychology, Public Policy and Law

Jennifer J. Harman & Demosthenes Lorandos, Preprint of Allegations of Family Violence in Court: How Pa-rental Alienation Affects Judicial Outcomes. Psychology, Public Policy and Law, Vol. 27(2), 14 December, 2020:184-208.
Comment: This paper is an analysis of the article by J. Meier et al. (GWU Law School Public Law Research, 2019). From the abstract: "We failed to find any support for the conclusions made by Meier (2019). Parents found (versus alleged) to alienate their children, regardless of their gender, had greater odds of losing parenting time, losing custody of their children, and losing their case. These findings held even when the accusing parent had been found to have been abusive. Losses or decreases in custody were not found when the (alleged) alienated parent was found to have been abusive. Results indicate that the majority of courts carefully weigh allegations of all forms of family violence in their determinations about the best interests of children. These findings, along with several others, raise concerns that the methodological, analytical, and statistical problems we detail about Meier’s report (2019) make her conclusions untrustworthy."