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C.A. Childress, Psy.D. (2014)
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The child symptoms traditionally described as “parental alienation” represent the child’s triangulation into the spousal conflict though a cross-generational coalition with one parent against the other parent (Minuchin, 1974; Haley, 1977).
1 The allied and supposedly “favored” parent in this coalition has narcissistic and/or borderline personality disorder
characteristics that are distorting the child’s relationship with the other parent, and which are being transferred to the child’s attitudes toward the other parent.
The addition of narcissistic/(borderline) personality disorder processes transform the cross-generational coalition of the pathological parent and the child into a particularly malignant and virulent form in which the child seeks to entirely cut off his or her relationship with the other parent, who is essentially a normal-range and affectionally available parent.
This malignant form of cross-generational parent-child coalition creates a distinctive and characteristic pattern of pathology in the child’s symptom display evidenced in three diagnostic indicators, 1) distortions to the child’s attachment bonding motivations, 2) the selective display of specific personality disorder features in the child’s symptom presentation,
and 3) an intransigently held, fixed and false belief system (i.e., a delusion) regarding the supposedly abusive inadequacy of the targeted-rejected parent. While it is the child who overtly displays these symptoms, the primary origin of the pathology within the family is the narcissistic/(borderline) personality structure of the allied and supposedly “favored” parent.
The distorted parenting practices of the narcissistic/(borderline) parent creates significant developmental (diagnostic indicator 1), personality (diagnostic indicator 2), and psychiatric (diagnostic indicator 3) pathology in the child, which defines pathogenic parenting (i.e., patho=pathological; genic=genesis, creation. Pathogenic parenting represents
the creation of significant child psychopathology as a result of severely distorted parenting practices).
The creation of significant developmental, personality, and psychiatric symptoms in a child through distorted parenting by a narcissistic/(borderline) parent shift the family concerns from child custody and visitation issues to child protection issues.
More information regarding an attachment-based model of the family processes traditionally described as “parental alienation” is available at, www.drcachildress.org www.drcraigchildressblog.org Masters Lecture Series of California Southern University: http://www.calsouthern.edu/content/events/parental-alienation-an-attachment-based-model/
*ATTENTION HESITANT LICSENSED PRACTITIONER.
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