Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation-What is the difference?

Parental alienation syndrome and parental alienation are terms that are bandied about interchangeably but there is some debate in academic circles about the difference between the two.

Parental Alienation Syndrome

Parental alienation syndrome is generally understood to mean a situation where a child is alienated against a parent with no reason or justification.It is defined by an eminent academic Dr. Richard Gardner as “a disorder that arises primarily in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary manifestation is the child’s campaign of denigration against a parent, a campaign that has no justification. It results from the combination of a programming (brainwashing) parent’s indoctrination and the child’s own contributions to the vilification of the targeted parent.”

Parental Alienation

Parental alienation on the other hand generally describes the situation where the child is alienated from a parent but may have a reason for such alienation such as abuse or neglect.

Regardless of which definition you are happy with the situation that you are likely to encounter in a bitter child custody dispute is one where the child becomes a cheerleader for the alienating parent and a spokesperson for that parent’s bitterness or hatred.

How to deal with parental alienation is difficult and there are different approaches recommended by child care professionals but the approach now revolves around moving the child to a “transitional” location such as a friend’s house or that of another family member or other location with suitable support and supervision.

The different definitions of parental alienation syndrome and parental alienation also disagree on the behavior of the child and his or her role in the degradation of the other parent.This subtle difference revolves around looking at the behavior of the child in the whole situation and holding the child blameless and putting all of the responsibility on the alienating parent.

It can be important to recognize the difference in resolving the problem.

Another situation that arises is that the parent who is being alienated can also retaliate and become alienating him/herself.

Recognizing parental alienation is vital for attorneys,child care workers, mediators and family members to resolve the problem.

In later articles I will take a look at the symptoms of parental alienation and the three significant types of alienation-obsessed alienators,active alienators and naive alienators.