Exploring the lived experiences of psychologists working with parental alienation syndrome

Abstract

Divorce has become an accepted occurrence in modern society. The nature, duration and level of parental conflict during the divorce can have a lasting impact on all family members. Parental Alienation Syndrome is a controversial phenomenon associated with high conflict divorce cases and has received much attention in legal and psychological discussion circles for the past 20 years. Although considerable controversy exists surrounding the empirical value of the construct Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) proposed by Gardner in 1985, few researchers, academics and psychologists contest its existence in some form when considering high conflict divorce cases. PAS is defined by Gardner as a disorder of the child, which appears primarily in the context of child custody disputes and high conflict divorces. The principle manifestation of PAS is that the child develops a campaign of unfair criticism against one of their parents (alienated parent). The campaign has no justification or validation and is the result of a combination of programming (brainwashing) and indoctrination instigated by the other parent (alienating parent). PAS is distinguished from parental alienation by the child‟s own contribution and active participation in the unfair criticism towards the alienated parent. When other factors like abuse or neglect, parenting style or divorce related contextual factors are present a diagnosis of PAS should be carefully re-considered or ruled out. Evaluating custodial placement or intervention in cases where PAS is present is more complex due to the child‟s own participation in the alienating process. Psychologists appointed by the courts to mediate, intervene and evaluate in PAS cases have to have experience with and knowledge about the dynamics of PAS. The effect of PAS should be considered when making any recommendations concerning custodial placement or other arrangements enforced by the courts in divorce cases where PAS is present. The aim of the study was thus to explore the subjective experiences of psychologists working with Parental Alienation Syndrome. A qualitative research design was used with a phenomenological approach. Eight psychologists in private practice voluntarily participated in the study and were recruited by snowball sampling. Data were collected through in-depth interviews that were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. Transcribed data were analysed by means of thematic analysis from which themes and sub-themes were derived. Two main categories with themes and sub-themes were identified. It was found that psychologists‟ experiences concerned the etiology of PAS and the operational implications when working with PAS cases. In terms of etiology, it was found that the psychologists perceive that the changes made to the new Children's Act 38 of 2005 and the involvement of legal professionals and high conflict divorces escalate the prevalence of PAS and make intervention difficult. In terms of operational implications it was found that psychologists experience PAS as difficult to prove due to the lack of empirical consensus over the criteria for PAS. Therapeutic intervention is greatly impacted by PAS as the child participates in the alienating process him/herself, and when therapeutic intervention aims address PAS symptoms in the child, the intervention is usually met with strong resistance from the child and the alienating parent. It was also found that working with PAS has a strong emotional effect on the psychologist tasked with intervening or evaluating cases involving PAS. All of the mentioned dynamics cause considerable frustration and stress on the part of the psychologist, not only due to the effect of PAS on the child but also due to the involvement of other professions such as lawyers and highly conflicted parents. A major source of anxiety experienced by the psychologists was the risk of being reported to the Health Professions Council of South Africa, usually by angry parents. Due to the low success rate, complex dynamics, and high stress levels associated with this type of forensic work, some of the psychologists involved in the study claim that they have seriously considered terminating their work with PAS cases.