Parental Alienation Is Child Abuse

Evidence to support that severe parental alienation is child abuse includes:

• • [Wamboldt 2016 Child Affected by Parental Relationship Distress] The relevant DSM-5 authors explain that parental alienation is included in DSM-5 under Child Psychological Abuse. "If the focus of clinical attention is on the parent who caused the child's parental alienation, the term psychological abuse may be used."

  • [Warshak 2016 Ten Parental Alienation Fallacies] This paper in an APA journals tells is that parental alienation "psychologically abusive" and is "emotional abuse."

  • [Childress 2015 Foundations] In pathogenic parenting, children meet 3 criteria: developmental pathology (attachment), personality disorder pathology, and psychiatric delusional pathology. This is the psychological harm needed for diagnosis as V995.51.

  • [Baker, 2014 "Parental Alienation as a form of psychological maltreatment"] Summarizes 6 peer reviewed, empirical studies, with an empirical definition of parental alienation.

  • [Massachusetts General Hospital 2016 Comprehensive Clinical Psychology] "Withholding of Interactions with Other Caregiver" is Child Psychological Abuse.

  • [APSAC 2017 Practice Guidelines for the Investigation of Child Psychological Maltreatment] "restricting or interfering with or directly undermining child's important relationships" as well as other relevant behaviors

  • Fidler, Barbara. (2010). Children resisting postseparation contact with a parent: Concepts, controversies, and conundrums. Family Court Review. 48. 10 - 47. 10.1111/j.1744-1617.2009.01287.x. "There is now scholarly consensus that severe alienation is abusive to children"

See also this list of harms to children from parental alienation.

Also, the American Psychological Association (Division 37 amicus brief), as of December 15 2019, endorses a book that notes that when a child suffers harm when he or she is separated from one of his or her parents (in this case in the context of imprisonment), that "a growing body of research confirms that children with incarcerated parents are more likely than other children to exhibit internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, cognitive delays, difficulties in school, and insecure attachment relationships with their incarcerated parents and primary caregivers".