Although there are no guarantees, many professionals believe and have seen many alienated children return. Some are helped to return by therapists, assisted by court orders, and others may need to be deprogrammed.
Stines writes that the results of parental alienation “are devastating for the alienated child and can last a lifetime.” In those long-lasting cases, the child misses a lifetime loving and supportive relationship with the parent they were “conditioned to reject.”
Often it is only a matter of time before alienating parents become desperate and their unstable mental health gets the better of them. People in an official position start to recognize the alienating parent as being out of line, and become supportive of the targeted parent.
Yes, with appropriate intervention and support, parental alienation can be reversed. This may involve counseling, therapy, and/or mediation to help rebuild the relationship between the targeted parent and the child.
Children exposed to parental alienating behaviours may develop a confused sense of self-perception and fail to remember how to trust their perceptions and feelings, resulting in an uncertain identity, lack of self-esteem, and deep insecurity [10,15].
Although there are no guarantees, many professionals believe and have seen many alienated children return. Some are helped to return by therapists, assisted by court orders, and others may need to be deprogrammed.
A child who has been alienated against a parent, feels guilt and shame for having been made to take part in acts of hatred against a loved parent, so much so that the feelings impact in a physical as well as emotional, mental and psychological way.
Anger, guilt, grief, disconnection, and low self-esteem.
Parental alienation is a form of child abuse that we are only beginning to recognize. Technically speaking, it's when a child aligns with one parent and rejects its other parent for reasons that are not warranted.
In most cases, parental alienation backfires, with the child struggling with feelings of loss and resentment towards both parents. Removing the other parent from their life causes the child to feel isolated and neglected, instilling feelings of insecurity.
Parental alienation does not protect a child's interests—it places them in peril. When a parent's behavior threatens not only your well-being, but also your child's, it is worth doing everything in your power to fight back. If your ex is engaging in such tactics, you should explore every legal option at your disposal.
According to Psychology Today, parental alienation primarily is considered to be an attachment-based trauma, where instead of serving the psychological and emotional needs of the child by providing stability, alienating parents use their child to meet their own needs.
What is parental alienation? Parental alienation is where a parent does things (you can call it brainwashing, alienating, or programming) to make a child not want to see or even know the other parent.
Narcissistic Parental Alienation syndrome refers to the process of psychological manipulation of a child by a parent to show fear, disrespect, or hostility towards the other parent. Very often, the child can't provide logical reasoning for the difference in their behaviour towards both parents.
Studies show that Parental Alienation is experienced equally by both sexes. Adolescents (ages 9-15) are usually more affect than younger children. Children most affected tend to be those subjected to parents' highly conflicted divorces or custody battles.
The effect of alienation is dramatic on children. Children become overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, and confused. These children often develop an unhealthy sense of entitlement that leads to social alienation and behavior problems.
Alienated children typically appear rude, ungrateful, spiteful, and cold toward the targeted parent, and they appear to be impervious to feelings of guilt about their harsh treatment. Gratitude for gifts, favors, or child support provided by the targeted parent is nonexistent.
Set and keep boundaries, do what you say you will do, let the child challenge without being aggressive but hold the boundaries firmly. Reframing of their understanding of the past, in which they begin to see that their behaviours were not based on fact but on what they had been lead to believe were facts.
It has also been found that 20% to 25% of parents engage in alienating behavior as long as 6 years after divorce. Alienating parents can be either mothers or fathers. Parental alienation is poorly understood by many mental health professionals, not to mention attorneys, guardians ad litem, and judges.
Gaslighting is especially common in cases involving parental alienation, but it can be used in plenty of other situations as well.
There are several behaviors that are typical of alienated children, including demonizing the rejected parent, resisting or refusing to spend time or communicate with the alienated parent, idealizing the favored parent, and attempting to get third parties to believe that the alienated party is wholly bad.
PA is a mental condition in which a child-usually one whose parents are engaged in a high-conflict separation or divorce-allies strongly with one parent (the preferred parent) and rejects a relationship with the other parent (the alienated parent) without legitimate justification.