HIGHLIGHTS

Inducing a parental alienation syndrome (PAS) in a child is a form of emotional abuse, because the attenuation and even destruction of what was previously a good parent/child bond may become permanent.

The purpose of this book is to provide therapists with techniques for reintegrating PAS children. Attempts must be made to replace the unhealthy material in the child's brain circuitry with healthy material. It is unrealistic to hope that PAS children will unilaterally come to recognize that they have been programmed and then seek reconciliation with the alienated parent. This is extremely rare. Therapists who advise parents who have been victims of PAS indoctrinations to do nothing and hope for that wonderful day of reconciliation are doing their patients a disservice, because during this hiatus the unhealthy PAS material is becoming more deeply entrenched in the child's mental processes. It is only via deprogramming and other therapeutic interventions that there is any hope for the PAS child's rapprochement with the alienated parent. In addition, the PAS child must have experiences with the victimized parent--experiences that demonstrate compellingly that the PAS campaign of denigration is a fabrication and a delusion--if there is to be any hope of reconciliation. The therapist's role in the treatment of PAS children is to facilitate these processes and to provide healthier material in the child's brain circuitry, material that will replace the pathological PAS indoctrinations.

Throughout, Dr. Gardner details his interventional techniques, both at the theoretical and clinical levels, often with verbatim vignettes. Described here, for the first time, is Dr. Gardner's innovative Vicarious Deprogramming Procedure in which the targeted parent serves as the primary deprogrammer, preferably under the guidance of a therapist who is familiar with this innovative approach The foundation of the interventional process is based on the ancient principle: "Fight fire with fire." PAS children have been programmed; they must be deprogrammed. What has been done, must be undone. Only then can the healthier thoughts and feelings that the child still has toward the targetted parent manifest themselves.

In short, this book provides practical, implementable interventional techniques and reasonable hope for targeted parents who have reached the point of hopelessness. It is a well-known principle that the earlier one treats a disorder, the greater the likelihood the therapy will be successful. Accordingly, such treatment can also serve to stop the PAS from progressing down the track from mild, to moderate, to severe. In some cases, it should even prove useful for preventing the development of the PAS if the interventional techniques are implemented at the first signs of PAS behavior.