Recurrent Misinformation Regarding Parental Alienation Theory

Abstract

Misinformation regarding parental alienation theory has been published many times in journals and books since the 1980s. This article discusses a specific example of misinformation, i.e., variations of the statement: Parental alienation theory assumes that the favored parent has caused parental alienation in the child simply because the child refuses to have a relationship with the rejected parent, without identifying or proving alienating behaviors by the preferred parent. This is an unusual phenomenon, i.e., the same misinformation was found in journal articles, books, and presentations by critics of parental alienation 40 times between 1994 and 2020. This trail of recurrent misinformation is not trivial; it is a major misrepresentation of basic tenets of parental alienation theory. The article concludes with action items, including the proposal that these false statements should be corrected and/or the journal articles should be withdrawn from publication.We live in an era of misinformation. Misleading statements, sloppy scholarship, and outright fraud have occurred in the literature of medicine ("COVID is a hoax."), psychology ("Facilitated communication is a treatment for autism. "), and science ("The Apollo moon landings never occurred, but were staged by NASA."). This article relates a pervasive pattern of misinformation that has occurred in the field of family therapy.Parental alienation (PA) is a mental condition in which a child-usually one whose parents are engaged in a high-conflict separation or divorceallies strongly with one parent (the favored parent) and rejects a relationship with the other parent (the alienated parent) without legitimate justification. The most common cause of PA is the child's indoctrination by the favored parent to dislike or fear the alienated parent (Bernet, 2020a, pp. 5-6). This is a generic definition almost everyone-PA proponents as well as PA critics-recognizes and accepts.

Scholarly rumors: Citation analysis of vast misinformation regarding parental alienation theory

“…The first stage of this research identified 40 articles or presentations between 1994 and 2020 in which a PA critic stated some version of the relevant misinformation; also, a few writings by PA scholars that could have been misunderstood or misconstrued to say that some practitioners diagnose PA simply based on the child's contact refusal without specifically identifying ABs by the favored parent. The results from the first stage of this research project—including 40 quotations of misinformation—were reported by Bernet (2021).…”

“…The current study greatly expanded the previous research on PA misinformation. Bernet (2021) identified 40 examples of the same misinformation published between 1994 and 2020. The current research identified an additional 54 examples published between 1996 and 2022, for a total of 94 examples of the same misinformation.…”

“…It appeared that this specific form of misinformation had a history and may be widely believed by PA critics. While previous research documented the recurrent pattern of the same misinformation (Bernet, 2021), the current article explores the proliferation of PA misinformation more broadly and seeks to depict graphically the amount of misinformation and its method of expansion. It is hoped that this will serve as an example for other areas of study with a goal of combatting misinformation as it leaps between social media and scholarly literature.…”

“…The results from the first stage of this research project-including 40 quotations of misinformation-were reported by Bernet (2021).…”

Book Review: Challenging parental alienation: New directions for professionals and parents

“…Parental alienation (Bernet, 2021), formerly entitled Parental Alienation Disorder (PAD) (Bernet, 2008) and even before that Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS), was proposed as an alternative explanation for child sexual abuse allegations in 1985 by the late Richard Gardner (Gardner, 2002), and later asserted in domestic violence and child maltreatment allegations in domestic relations courts, where child custody and visitation are decided in divorce or relationship dissolution (Lorandos & Bernet, 2020). The explanation for the child's resistance or fear of the "alienated parent" is that the "alienating parent" has undertaken overt, covert, and/or unconscious endeavors that result in the child's resistance to or fear of contact with the alienated parent.…”