Danielle Pollack, Policy Manager at the National Family Violence Law Center, indefatigably proffers herself as a protector of women. She perpetuates this myth on her websites and in her lobbying of legislators to pass laws renouncing parental alienation.
Pollack conversely does exactly the opposite of protecting women. The truth is that Pollack has turned her back on alienated mothers.
Here you will hear alienated mothers’ view of Pollack and her minions. You will hear alienated mothers’ desperate, ignored and rejected, appeal for assistance from Pollack and her minions.
FURTHER READING: Response to Primer
Danielle Pollack’s Hypocrisy
Without a shred of credible evidence, Pollack falsely claims that whenever parental alienation is alleged in a child custody case, the mother’s rights are vitiated. There is no credible evidence for this fantastic claim.
Pollack’s “remedy” in the search of a problem is to deny – carte blanche – the concept of parental alienation. This exacerbates harm to alienated mothers, who are already at a greater disadvantage to fathers in the legal proceedings due the inequality of wages and income in the business world.
FURTHER READING: Welcome to the Alienation Industry
Dearth of Quality Evidence for the Claim that Parental Alienation Disadvantages & Discriminates Against Mothers
Daniel Pollack and her minions falsely claim that parental alienation was manufactured by child psychiatrist, Richard Gardner, to “discredit mothers’ and children’s abuse claims against fathers.”
Dr. Gardner did not ever use parental alienation for this purpose – which is why those who make this claim fail to reference a single statement by Dr. Gardner to this effect. Dr. Gardner was an avid protector of children.
That is why Dr. Gardner was so concerned about the harm children suffer from parental alienation.
Parental alienation has never been used by parental alienation specialists to uncritically discredit allegations of abuse by alienating mothers, alienating fathers, and alienated children.
No specialist in alienation would make a finding for alienation if abusive behavior by the rejected parent is confirmed by the scientific method to make clinical findings.
By definition, a case cannot be one of alienation if the rejected parent is abusive or seriously neglectful.
Daniel Pollack and her minions also assert fabricated claim that mother’s are discriminated against and are disadvantaged in court proceedings when alienation is alleged. The authors falsely assert that mothers are “disbelieved and lose custody even more often when they are alleging child physical or sexual abuse.”
The “evidence” that Pollack and her minions rely upon for the fabricated claim of parental alienation’s discrimination against mothers is based upon one questionable study by Joan Meir.
The study has not been replicated and has been debunked for manipulation of data on several levels. See the critiques below by child psychiatrist, William Bernet, and research psychologist, Jennifer Harman of Meir’s study.
Also see the critiques below of Joan Mercer’s “studies” of her unsubstantiated claims that alienation disadvantages and discriminates against mothers.
FURTHER READING: Assessing Parental Alienation Using to the Scientific Method
Parental Alienation is an Equal Opportunity Victimizer
Parental alienation is an equal opportunity victimizer. Alienated mothers comprise 50% of my caseload and of many of my colleagues’ caseloads.
Alienated mothers, themselves, are victims of domestic violence by proxy. They are being routinely physically battered by their sons – and sometimes by their daughters – at the behest of alienating fathers.
Alienated mothers feel abandoned by the groups that intervene to protect women from DV.
FURTHER READING: No Evidence that PA Discriminates Against Mothers
What Alienated Mothers Want From Domestic Violence Professionals
Alienated mothers wish for their sons to get the desperate help they need to relinquish their antisocial, battering behaviors and have the expectation for becoming law-abiding, socially responsible adults.
Alienated mothers are desperately attempting to save their physically violent sons from themselves and from the influence by their alienating fathers.
Alienated mothers fear that if their sons do not get preventive help in their youth, they will grow up to be the next generating of perpetrators of DV in their intimate relationships.
Alienated Mothers’ Cry for Help for Their Abusive Sons & Daughters
The concerns of alienated mothers are screaming for remedy.
By denying the very real existence of parental alienation, a generation of potential adult DV perpetrators is being promoted and produced – however unintended – by the very professionals committed to end DV. These include the authors of this primer.
It is incomprehensible to me that so many of these professionals, who have made the protection of women their life’s work, yet ignore the potential conflagration of minor boys – and even daughters – becoming adult DV perpetrators.
Prevention of the perpetuation of DV begins with recognition that parental alienation is real, is abusive of mothers as well as of fathers, and is most of all abusive of alienated children for whom DV behaviors are being normalized by their alienating parents.
FURTHER READING: Correcting False Narratives
Conclusion
In the absence of reason and evidence in support of their arguments, Pollack and her minions proffer their falsehoods about alienation by primarily relying upon two logical fallacies: appeal to emotion (who is not motivated to protect and defend children?) and ipse dixit (it’s true because I said so).
Pollack and her minions are enabling the ongoing child abuse of alienated children by their alienating parents. Pollack and her minions are irresponsible, insensitive, and impervious to the needs and protection of alienated children.
References
Kaplan and Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook on Psychiatry Accepts Parental Alienation
Recurrent Misinformation About Parental Alienation
No Support for Discrimination Against Mothers in Alienation Court Cases
Current Misinformation Regarding Parental Alienation Theory
Turning Points for Families Evaluation
The Reality of Parental Alienation: Response to Clemente et. al
Parental Alienation, DSM-5, and ICD-11: Response to Critics
Developmental Psychology and the Scientific Status of Parental Alienation
Parental Alienation is in the DSM-5-TR: But Not the Actual Words
Parental Alienation References
Parental Alienation: Everything You Wanted to Know
Rejecting the Rejection of Parental Alienation: Comment on Mercer
Response to Houchin et. al in JAAPL
The Child’s Attorney, the Alienated Child and Diminished Capacity
The Illusionary Correlation Between Parental Alienation and other Forms of Family Violence
Manifestations of an Alienated Child as Seen by an Expert
Critique of the Critics of Parental Alienation
Ackerman, N. W. (1958). The psychodynamics of family life. New York: Basic Books.
Ackerman, N. W. (1961). The emergence of family psychotherapy on the present scene. In M. I. Stein (Ed.), Contemporary psychotherapies. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Ackerman, N. W., & Franklin, P. (1965). Family dynamics and the reversibility of delusional formation: A case study in family therapy. In I. Boszormenyi-Nagy & J. Famo (Eds.), Intensive family therapy (Ch. 6.). New York: Harper and Row.
Ackerman, N. W. (1966). Treating the troubled family. New York: Basic Books.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental Disorders (5th ed.) Washington, DC: Author.
Andolfi, M., Angelo, C., Menghi, P.,& Nicolo‑Corigliano, A. (1983). Behind the family mask. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Andolfi, M., Angelo, C., & Nichilo, M. (1989). The myth of atlas. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Baker, A., Bernet, W., Miller, S., Adebayo, T. (2019). “The Assessment of the Attitudes and Behaviors about Physically Abused Children: A Survey of Mental Health Professionals.” Journal of Child and Family Studies.
Bernet, W. (Ed.) (2010). Parental Alienation, DSM-5, and ICD-11. Springfield, Il: Thomas.
Bernet, W., Lorandos, D., Sauber, R. (Eds.) (2013). Parental Alienation: The handbook for mental health and legal professionals. Springfield, Il: Thomas.
Lorandos, D., & Bernet, W. (2020). (Eds.) Parental alienation: Science and law. Springfield, Il.: Thomas.
Bowen, M. (1971). The use of family theory in clinical practice. In J. Haley (Ed.), Changing families: A family therapy reader. New York: Grune & Stratton, 159–192.
Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. New York: Jason Aronson.
Bruck, M. & Ceci, S. (1999). “The Suggestibility of Children’s Memory.” Annual Reviews of Psychology. (50): 419-439.
Bruck, M., Ceci, S., & Hembrooke, H. (2002). “The Nature of Children’s True and False Narratives,” Developmental Review. (22): 520-554.
Clawar, S. S., & Rivlin, B. V. (2013). Children Held Hostage: Identifying brainwashed children, presenting a case, and crafting solutions (Second ed.). U.S.A.: American Bar Association.
Gardner, R. A. (1998). The parental alienation syndrome (2nd ed.). Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics.Gardner, R. A. (2001). Therapeutic interventions for children with parental alienation syndrome. Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics.
Gottlieb, L. (2012). The Parental Alienation Syndrome. Springfield, Ill: Thomas.
Gottlieb, L. (2013). “The Application of Structural Family Therapy to the Treatment of Parental Alienation.” In A. J. L. Baker & S. R. Sauber (Eds.), Working With Alienated Children and Families: A Clinical Guidebook. New York: Routledge, 209-231.
Haley, J. (1977). Toward a theory of pathological systems. In P. Watzlawick & J. Weakland (Eds.), The interactional viewNew York: Basic Books, 37–44.
Hoffman. L. (1981). Foundations of Family Therapy. Basic Books.
Joshi, A. (2012). Litigating Parental Alienation. American Bar Association: Family Law Section.
Loftus, E. (1997). “Creating False Memories.” Scientific American. 277 (3): 70-75.
Loftus, E. (2000). “The Dangers of Memory.” Academia.edu. Online 105-117.
Lorandos, D. & Bernet, W. (2020). Parental Alienation: Science and the Law. Chicago, Il: Thomas.
Maloney v. Maloney, 208 AD2d 603, 603–604. (New York).
Miller, S. G. (2013). Clinical Reasoning and Decision-Making in Cases of Child Alignment: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Issues. In A. J. L. Baker & S. R. Sauber (Eds.), Working With Alienated Children and Families: A Clinical Guidebook. New York: Routledge, 8-46.
Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and family therapy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Minuchin, S., Baker, L., & Rosman, B. (1978). Psychosomatic families: Anorexia nervosa in context. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Minuchin, S., & Fishman, C. (1981). Family therapy techniques. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Minuchin, S., & Nichols, M. (1993). Family healing. New York: The Free Press.
Minuchin, S., Lee, W., & Simon, G. (1996). Mastering family therapy. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Minuchin, S., Nichols, M., & Lee, W. (2007). Assessing families and couples: From symptom to system. New York: Pearson.
Reay, K. M. (2015). Family Reflections: A Promising Therapeutic Program Designed to Treat Severely Alienated Children and Their Family System. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 1-11.
Rosen, J. (2013). “The Child’s Attorney and the Alienated Child: Approaches to
Resolving the Ethical Dilemma of Diminished Capacity.” Family Court Review, 51(2) 330-343.
Warshak, R. (2018). “Reclaiming Parent–Child Relationships: Outcomes of Family Bridges with Alienated Children.” Journal of Divorce & Remarriage. Published online: 11 Oct 2018.
Warshak, R. (2020). “Parent-Child Contact Problems: Concepts, Controversies, & Conundrums.” Family Court Review. MA: Wiley, Vol. 58(2), 432–455
