Litigants in child custody disputes will often hear or use the words “parental alienation” and “parental alienation syndrome.” While deriving from the same root, the former concept is very real. The latter, however, is not. In general terms, parental alienation takes place where one parent, through verbal or non-verbal manipulation, interferes with the other parent’s relationship with the child. Parental alienation typically occurs in high conflict parental relationships, divorce and child custody battles.
While parental alienation is certainly harmful to a child’s well being and often damages the relationship between the child and both parents, the act of parental alienation does not result in its own accepted psychological syndrome or disorder. Considering that parental alienation syndrome has not been generally recognized as a legitimate psychological diagnosis by experts in the field, many courts have refused to admit any evidence of such a purported syndrome. See People v. Loomis, 172 Misc.2d 265, 658 N.Y.S.2d 787 (Cty. Ct. Suff. Cty. 1997); Tungate v. Commonwealth, 901 S.W.2d 41 (Ky.1995); cf. Floray v. State, 720 A.2d 1132 (Del.1998); Page v. Zordan, 564 So.2d 500 (Dist. Ct. of App. Fla.); In the Interest of T.M.W., 553 So.2d 260, 262 n. 3 (Dist. Ct. of App. Fla.1989); People v. Fortin, 184 Misc. 2d 10, 14, 706 N.Y.S.2d 611, 614 (N.Y. Co. Ct. 2000) aff’d, 289 A.D.2d 590, 735 N.Y.S.2d 819 (N.Y. App. Div. 2001). See also The Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Dangerous Aura Of Reliability, 27 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 1367.
PAS has been rejected as a diagnosis by both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association. In as much as the lead proponent of the syndrome, Dr. Richard Gardner, committed suicide in 2003, it is unlikely that PAS will ever attain its own status a generally recognized mental health disorder. In this way, evidence of PAS will no longer pass a legitimate Frye test, which is a prerequisite for admissibility scientific evidence in a court of law. In other words, parental alienation will remain a very real and ongoing danger to children in high conflict custody cases. The actual diagnosis of PAS, however, will not exist as far as family court judges are concerned.