Dr Childress' new book An Attachment-Based Model of Parental Alienation: Foundations "The construct of “parental alienation” has a controversial history. An attachment-based model of “parental alienation” brings the controversy to an end. An attachment-based model of “parental alienation” uses established constructs and principles of professional psychology to fully describe the psychological and interpersonal processes that create the symptom features of “parental alienation.” By defining “parental alienation” within standard and established psychological principles and constructs, an attachment-based model identifies a set of specific diagnostic indicators that can reliably identify "parental alienation" while differentiating "parental alienation from other sources of parent-child conflict. An attachment-based model for the construct of "parental alienation" also identifies specific domains of professional expertise and knowledge necessary for the professionally competent diagnosis and treatment of this special population of children and families. Children deserve a childhood free from the stress of their parents’ conflict, and parents deserve to love and be loved by their children. An attachment-based model of "parental alienation" represents an important step in creating a solution to the family tragedy of "parental alienation" in high-conflict divorce." In brief, the attachment model is the intersection of three layers: family systems, personality disorder, and the attachment system. The narcissistic/(borderline) parent psychologically decompensates into persecutory delusional beliefs because of activation of excessive anxiety surrounding the perceived interpersonal rejection and perceived abandonment and inadequacy associated with the divorce. The child is triangulated into the conflict. The induced disruption of the child's attachment system produces a characteristic set of three child symptom features, listed below. These precise clinical indicators form a unique signature, differentiated form other forms of child abuse For those that do not have immediate access to the book, an online summary/directory of content from Dr Childress is available.
APA Press Release about Psychological Child Abuse - "Childhood Psychological Abuse as Harmful as Sexual or Physical Abuse" This is the press release from the American Psychological Association endorsing the Unseen Wounds study . See link immediately below for more:
"Childhood psychological abuse [is] as harmful as sexual or physical abuse."
"Nearly 3 million U.S. children experience some form of [psychological] maltreatment annually."
Psychological maltreatment is "the most challenging and prevalent form of child abuse and neglect."
"Given the prevalence of childhood psychological abuse and the severity of harm to young victims, it should be at the forefront of mental health and social service training"
Unseen Wounds Seminal research paper showing that psychological child abuse is as bad as physical or sexual child abuse. “Child protective service case workers may have a harder time recognizing and substantiating emotional neglect and abuse because there are no physical wounds,” said Spinazzola. “Also, psychological abuse isn’t considered a serious social taboo like physical and sexual child abuse. We need public awareness initiatives to help people understand just how harmful psychological maltreatment is for children and adolescents.”
Summary of 6 Peer Reviewed Studies Showing that PA is Psychological Abuse
Amy Baker's New Book explaining why children bond with their abusers (not specifically PA but abuse in general), which explains some of the counterintuitive mystery that children favor a parent that is harming them Bonded to the Abuser: How Victims Make Sense of Childhood Abuse "Tens of thousands of children are removed from home each year due to some form of child maltreatment, usually physical neglect, physical abuse, or sexual abuse, although sometimes for emotional abuse as well. An additional significant number of children are victims of child maltreatment but remain in their home. Extensive research reveals the far reaching and long lasting negative impact of maltreatment on child victims, including on their physical, social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. One particularly troubling and complicated aspect is how the child victim forms (and maintains) a “traumatic bond” with his abuser, even becoming protective and defensive of that person despite the pain and suffering they have caused. This book will provide the reader with the essential experience of understanding how children make meaning of being maltreated by a parent, and how these traumatic bonds form and last. Through an examination of published memoirs of abuse, the authors analyze and reveal the commonalities in the stories to uncover the ways in which adult victims of childhood abuse understand and digest the traumatic experiences of their childhoods. This understanding can inform interventions and treatments designed for this vulnerable population and can help family and friends of victims understand more fully the maltreatment experience “from the inside out.” Also, read more at the psych central story on the book
A full differential diagnosis between parental alienation and child sexual abuse is available.
Assessment of the Harmful Psychiatric and Behavioral Effects of Different Forms of Child Maltreatment "Our findings challenge widely held beliefs about how child abuse should be recognized and treated—a responsibility that often lies with the physician. Because different types of child abuse have equivalent, broad, and universal effects, effective treatments for maltreatment of any sort are likely to have comprehensive psychological benefits. Population-level prevention and intervention strategies should emphasize emotional abuse, which occurs with high frequency but is less punishable than other types of child maltreatment". And also "Finally, population-level prevention and intervention strategies should not ignore the considerable psychological harms imposed by emotional abuse, which rival those of physical abuse and neglect. Taken together with high worldwide prevalence and evidence that emotional and physical pain share a common somatosensory representation in the brain, it is clear that emotional abuse is wide-spread, painful, and destructive."
Here is a care package for the less hesitant, for example, a counselor at a college: