Parental Alienation – Seeding an Antisocial Personality Disorder

Alienating parents are modeling antisocial behaviors for their children.

Alienating parents are making their children complicit in the commission of antisocial behaviors.

Alienating parents are encouraging and rewarding their children’s antisocial behaviors.

Alienating parents are sowing the seeds of an antisocial personality disorder in their children.

This article will discuss how alienating behaviors meet the DSM-5-TR definition of antisocial behaviors and how alienated children’s maltreatment of their alienated parent meet the DSM-5-TR criteria of “child or adolescent antisocial behavior.”

Definition and Criteria of Antisocial Personality Disorder

According to The DSM-5, an antisocial personality disorder is defined as:

“A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following”:

1. Failure to confirm to laws and social norms (repeatedly breaking laws).
2. Deceitfulness (repeated lying or conning others for personal profit or pleasure).
3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead.
4. Irritability and aggressiveness (repeated physical fights or assaults).
5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others.
6. Consistent irresponsibility (repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations).
7. Lack of remorse (being indifferent to having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another).

FURTHER READING: Alienating Behaviors – Domestic Violence Upon the Child

Examples of Antisocial Alienating Behaviors

Alienating parents typically engage in multiple behaviors that meet all seven of the above criteria for an antisocial personality disorder when only three criteria are needed.

• Violating the alienated parent’s Court-ordered parenting time.
• Involving their children in the violation of the court order for the alienated parent’s parenting time.
• Filing motions with knowingly false information in order to gain an upper hand in the custody proceedings and to retaliate against the alienated parent for some perceived transgression.
• Making knowingly false child abuse, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence allegations against the alienated parent.
• Coercing their children to initiate or confirm knowingly false child abuse, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence allegations against the alienated parent.
• Badmouthing the alienated parent to the child, the Court, and professionals with frivolous, distorted, and fabricated claims.
• Modeling disrespect of the alienated parent.
• Encouraging, sanctioning, and rewarding their child’s maltreatment and defiance of the alienated parent.
• Excluding alienated parents who has joint legal custody from decision-making for their children – particularly in the important areas of education, health, extracurricular activities, religious observance, etc.
• Asking the child to spy on the alienated parent.
• Asking the child to keep secrets from the alienated parent.
• Failure to teach and require their children to behave in socially appropriate manner.
• Modeling a flagrant disregard of empathy for the alienated parent’s need to have their children meaningfully in their lives.
• Showing a flagrant disregard of empathy for their children’ need for meaningfully involvement of their alienated parent in their lives.

Further Reading: Parental Alienating Behaviors Discussed by an Expert

Examples of Alienated Children’s Antisocial Behaviors

The DSM-5-TR added a clinical condition labeled “Child or adolescent antisocial behavior” (Z72.810). It is a precursor to the development of an antisocial personality disorder.

Alienated children engage in antisocial behaviors at the coercion and manipulation of their alienating parents.

I have observed this clinical condition to be manifested to some degree by all 800 alienated children whom I directly treated. I also noted the same clinical condition to some degree in several thousand additional alienated children in cases I had served as an expert witness for the Court or for one of the litigants.

Here is a short list of alienated children’s repetitive antisocial behaviors and cruel comments. These behaviors and comments are conveyed to their alienated parent without a shred of empathy or remorse:

A pattern of ongoing rejection, defiance, emotional abuse, and even physical assault of their alienated parent.

A pattern of behaviors to making false child abuse and child sexual abuse allegations against their alienated parent, testifying against their parent, and doing whatever possible to have their alienated parent arrested.

A pattern of behavior of ongoing refusal to have contact with their alienated parent – even when Court-ordered and even when knowing they are violating a Court order.

A pattern of behavior of ongoing refusal to interact with their alienated parent during Court-ordered parenting time. Rejecting gifts, food, tickets to child activities, etc. from their alienated parent.

A pattern of behavior of ongoing refusal to attend or interact with their alienated parent during Court-ordered reunification therapy.

Actively opposing their alienated parent from obtaining knowledge about and participating in their education, health, activities, friends, etc.

Expressing to their alienated parent they hope their alienated parent will die a slow death in a fire.

Expressing to their alienated that they hope that their alienated parent will have a car accident that cripples them to life.

Expressing to their alienated parent that they hope the next time they see them it is at the parent’s funeral.

Expressing to their alienated parent that the parent is not their parent, never had been their parent, and that their stepparent is their parent.

Expressing to their alienated parent that their parent deserved to be beaten because they are boring and a nag.

Expressing to their alienating parent that they are overreacting to their child’s punch in the face as the punch had not been that strong.

Deliberately destroying, breaking, or throwing away their alienated parent’s property.

Aggressive behaviors with their alienated parent and with peers that subject themselves and others to harm.

Here are some of the cruel, hurtful name-calling that alienated children express to their alienated parent:

• You’re a narcissist
• You’re wacko
• You’re a moron
• You’re just a sperm donor
• You’re boring
• You’re miserable
• You’re not my parent
• You’re crazy
• You’re mean
• You’re out of your F—-g mind.
• You’re a pedophile.
• You are a bitch, c–t, fatso, white trash, a piece of shit, and demented.

FURTHER READING: Alienated Children Say the “Darndest” Things

Conclusion

An antisocial personality disorder can become characterological as early as adolescence. Characterological means irreversible and not responsive to remediation.

It is time that the mental health and judicial communities address the catastrophic alienating behaviors according to the standard of “time is of the essence.”