Parental Alienation Syndrome: prevention of paediatrician's unconscious contribution
• Ursula Kodjoe1
Abstract
Parental Alienation Syndrome refers to a disturbance whose primary manifestation is a child’s unjustified campaign of denig- ration against, or rejection of one parent due to the influence of the other parent combined with the child’s own contributions. The rejection is unjustified and no reasonable response to the behaviour of the alienated parent’s behaviour and to the formerly loving re- lationship between parent and child. The alienation and loss of contact between the target parent and the child occurs during par- ental separation and divorce with one parent denying access to the other parent often with the (unconscious) support of judicial, medical and social institutions.
The manipulation of children against one parent is widely regarded as emotional abuse and parental exploitation of the child (Clawar
& Rivlin, Kopetski, Kelly & Johnston).
It is of crucial importance for paediatricians to evaluate the child’s family situation being caught in the middle of high conflict between parents about custody and visitation rights.
The primary caretaking parents often approach their paediatrician reporting the child’s reaction after visiting the other parent: they do not see the behaviour as a normal farewell reaction, they seek to enter into an alliance with the paediatrician and ask for attesta- tions against further contacts with the other parent. Unfortunately too many paediatricians issue those papers and thus contribute to the loss of contact between a formerly loving and beloved parent.
Corresponding author:
• Dipl.-Psychol. Ursula Kodjoe, Family Therapist and Mediator, Court Appointed Evaluator in High Conflict Family Cases, Fichtenstraße 29, D-79194 Gundelfingen, Germany ukodjoe@gmx.de
1Family Therapist and Mediator, Court Appointed Evaluator in High Conflict Family Cases, Gundelfingen, Germany
AbstractSpecialareas
©2007 Kodjoe; licensee GMS Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ausbildung. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article is permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved with the article's original URL.
This article is freely available from http://www.egms.de/en/journals/zma/2007-24/zma000464.shtml
Please cite as: Kodjoe U. Parental Alienation Syndrome: prevention of paediatrician's unconscious contribution . GMS Z Med Ausbild. 2007;24(4):Doc170.
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