Canadian Symposium for Parental Alienation Syndrome
October 2 -3, 2010 • New York City, NY
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 – DAYTIME PROGRAM
William Bernet, M.D.– Keynote Speaker
"Parental Alienation: A Diagnosis for DSM-5"
Dr. Bernet will discuss the proposal that he and a large committee of mental health and legal professionals have submitted to the DSM-5 Task Force of the American Psychiatric Association. They have proposed that parental alienation be included in DSM-5 as either a "mental disorder" or a "relational problem." He will describe the DSM-5 review process and the current status of the proposal. Dr. Bernet will organize this presentation around "Twenty Reasons Why Parental Alienation Should be a Diagnosis," which are discussed in detail in his book, Parental Alienation, DSM-5, and ICD-11.
The paperback version of his book, Parental Alienation, DSM-5, and ICD-11, is available now. The hardcover version will be available in early October, 2010.
Glenn R. Caddy, Ph.D.
"PAS and Mind Control: Creating Mental Illness"
This presentation posits that severe Parental Alienation, however we conceptualize it, involves a systematic process of influencing the mind of a single child or of a set of siblings in ways that distort their framework of reality and set the stage for emotional problems into the future that can range from simply long term impairment of critical relationships and the consequences that flow there from to the establishment of a learned framework for quite gross psychopathology. I will develop this argument by illustrating the similarities in two clinical cases, one involving the induction of insanity through the use of mind control and the other the use of extreme parental alienation and I will conclude by making the point that in both cased the evolution of a shared delusional disorder plays a powerful role at the heart of both conditions.
Demosthenes Lorandos, J.D., Ph.D.
"Memo from the Trenches: Legal Battles against Parental Alienation"
Dr. Lorandos, a psychologist and an attorney, will explain his methods for dealing with parental alienation in civil and criminal courts. He will present vignettes from actual trials to illustrate the strategies that he has used in managing these complex cases.
Pamela Richardson
"A Kidnapped Mind: Making it Real"
Ms. Richardson's book, A Kidnapped Mind, brings a face, name, and meaning to the devastation that is caused by parental alienation syndrome. Her son, Dash, suffered years of emotional abuse at the hands of a parent. A Kidnapped Mind takes the reader on her journey, through years of struggle and heartbreak to near destruction, to survival and beyond. Ms. Richardson will explain the Dash Foundation, which is committed to giving copies of A Kidnapped Mind to organizations, seminars, libraries, schools, counselors and the judiciary. She will emphasize that the damaging and dangerous consequences of alienating a child from a once loved parent are real and parents who place their own selfish needs above those of their defenseless children deny them their right to love and be loved by both parents.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 – EVENING PROGRAM
Amy J. L. Baker, Ph.D
"Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Lessons Learned and Implications for Prevention"
Dr. Baker will review some of the major findings from her research on "adult children" of parental alienation syndrome and describe a school-based program to help children resist the pressure to choose one parent over the other, which is based on these research findings.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3 – DAYTIME PROGRAM
Terence W. Campbell, Ph.D. - Keynote Speaker
"Do Mental Health Professionals Disregard Scientific Evidence?"
Dr. Campbell will refer to an October 2009 article in Newsweek – which detailed how mental health professionals ignore scientific evidence – as a starting point. Dr. Campbell will argue that the assessment of parental alienation in a family should be based on standardized procedures that allow for the collection of objective data. He is concerned that some practitioners attempt to rule out parental alienation by relying on global impressions premised on clinical judgment. (For example, "In my many years of experience, relying on my clinical judgment, this case strikes me as a case of domestic violence that has not been recognized as such until now.") The goal of this presentation is to help custody evaluators and attorneys to recognize the differences between standard assessment procedures (objective information) and global impressions (clinical judgment).
Abraham Worenklein, Ph.D.
"Using the Themes Energizing Parental Alienation to Identify and Diagnose It"
Dr. Worenklein will discuss the themes that alienators use in alienating a child and to then show how appropriate interview strategies can reveal the existence of parental alienation. For example, Dr. Worenklein will explain interview techniques that demonstrate the following: the existence or absence of the child's seeing his parents in terms of extremes; his fear of the target parent; his being restricted from loving the target parent; his using developmentally inappropriate language; the lack of boundaries between the aligned parent and the alienated child; and parentification.
Brian Ludmer, B.Comm., L.L.B.
"Managing the Parental Alienation Case"
Mr. Ludmer will discuss the management of the legal aspects of parental alienation from the perspective of a practicing attorney. He will address how to "quarterback" a parental alienation case on behalf of the targeted parent, which includes: (1) procedural and substantive legal issues that attorneys and parents need to keep in mind; (2) how the client can best assist the legal and mental health professionals in organizing their own factual and evidentiary background, their presentations, and their collateral support and in understanding their "theory of the case"; (3) how counsel and the client can best ensure success in the custody/access/family assessment process; (4) dealing with the tactics of the aligned parent and their attorney, including delay and false allegations of abuse; and (5) managing the overall case and third party interventions so that reconciliation occurs before it is too late.
S. Richard Sauber, Ph.D.
"Why Forensic Evaluations are Preferred to Traditional Psychotherapy in Helping Alienated Children: The Difference in Approach and Outcome"
Dr. Sauber will address four topics. First, there is a national shortage of qualified, trained PAS therapists. Child and family therapists often profess to be knowledgeable on the subject, but have read little and lack actual clinical experience in treating these complex cases. Second, once a mental health professional agrees to treat a family with symptoms or allegations of PAS, what then? There are irreconcilable differences in establishing rapport among the alienated child, the powerful alienating parent, and the unpopular rejected parent. Cognitive dissonance takes place on the part of the therapist. Economic considerations come into play with regard to retaining the case and forming alliances. Third, the psychotherapist must now defend his position and his status, often not only in the clinical setting but also as an advocate for the alienated child in court. Fourth, there is a solution and what can we do to help our mental health brethren in these high conflict family disputes. A case example will be presented and the necessary ingredients will be outlined for expert forensic evaluations.
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