These calls are calls we have chosen as a few of the top calls we have had over the past 8 years. Some of these calls you have asked to be replayed. Others many never had the opportunity to hear. Please note that we will not be adding all calls now to this web page. This is just a select group.
We are certain these calls will help both the professionals involved in the world of alienation as well as the alienated family members themselves.These calls give much education regarding alienation in many different facets. They also will give much support as well.
Please also note the cost of the playback is for 1 time and must be listened to the day you register to hear the specific call that you register for.
We are certain these calls will help both the professionals involved in the world of alienation as well as the alienated family members themselves.These calls give much education regarding alienation in many different facets. They also will give much support as well.
Please also note the cost of the playback is for 1 time and must be listened to the day you register to hear the specific call that you register for.
Ashish Joshi, LL.M
"Enough Already! Suing for Damage$ to Make Alienators and their Enablers Pay"
In a case involving parental alienation, the number one goal is to protect the child from the ongoing psychological abuse. But what do you do once the child’s wellbeing is safeguarded and the child is away from the toxic influence of the alienating parent? Or, as in some unfortunate but sadly not uncommon scenarios, the child is beyond the reach of the courts due to emancipation or other reason—what do you do then? It is very difficult if not impossible for courts to change the pathological mindset of an alienator, especially if the alienator has undiagnosed personality disorders. But what courts can do is to ensure that actions have consequences.
Parental alienating behaviors devastate a parent (or grandparent’s) relationship with the child. This loss of relationship often results in severe emotional distress, if not outright trauma for the rejected parent (or grandparents). In many cases the aggrieved & targeted parent (or grandparents) can bring a legal action seeking money damages for attorney fees, therapy costs, and ancillary litigation costs that he / they were compelled to spend to defend themselves against false allegations and to protect their relationship with the child. In addition, the targeted parent / grandparent can also sue for money damages to compensate them for the mental or emotional distress that they suffered due to parental alienation.
And it’s not just about making alienators pay for their behaviors. The professionals who enable alienation—intentionally or through gross negligence or reckless conduct—should face consequences for for their actions (or omissions). Guardians ad litem, minor’s counsel, child’s therapist, social workers...all are accountable to their respective rules of professional conduct and codes of ethics. Unless checked, these professionals will continue to do untold damage to countless families through their incompetence, negligence, or simply callous indifference.
Parental alienation is child abuse. And abusive behavior should neither be condoned nor excused. It’s time to make the alienators and their enablers PAY for their abusive actions. This presentation will discuss legal remedies that are available to targeted parents and grandparents when seeking redress and monetary damages for the severe financial and emotional distress that they have suffered due to parental alienation.
Ashish Joshi is the owner and managing partner of Joshi: Attorneys + Counselors. He serves as the lead counsel in high-stakes, complex family law and divorce cases. He has counseled and/or represented clients in state and federal courts across the United States and internationally, including in India, United Kingdom, Canada, Luxembourg, Japan, Hong Kong, British Virgin Islands, and China. Mr. Joshi has been admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, state bars of New York, Michigan, the District of Columbia, and Gujarat, India. Mr. Joshi serves as a senior editor of Litigation, the flagship journal of the ABA’s Section of Litigation, and on the advisory board of The Champion, the journal published by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). He is the author of the forthcoming book, Litigating Parental Alienation.
In a case involving parental alienation, the number one goal is to protect the child from the ongoing psychological abuse. But what do you do once the child’s wellbeing is safeguarded and the child is away from the toxic influence of the alienating parent? Or, as in some unfortunate but sadly not uncommon scenarios, the child is beyond the reach of the courts due to emancipation or other reason—what do you do then? It is very difficult if not impossible for courts to change the pathological mindset of an alienator, especially if the alienator has undiagnosed personality disorders. But what courts can do is to ensure that actions have consequences.
Parental alienating behaviors devastate a parent (or grandparent’s) relationship with the child. This loss of relationship often results in severe emotional distress, if not outright trauma for the rejected parent (or grandparents). In many cases the aggrieved & targeted parent (or grandparents) can bring a legal action seeking money damages for attorney fees, therapy costs, and ancillary litigation costs that he / they were compelled to spend to defend themselves against false allegations and to protect their relationship with the child. In addition, the targeted parent / grandparent can also sue for money damages to compensate them for the mental or emotional distress that they suffered due to parental alienation.
And it’s not just about making alienators pay for their behaviors. The professionals who enable alienation—intentionally or through gross negligence or reckless conduct—should face consequences for for their actions (or omissions). Guardians ad litem, minor’s counsel, child’s therapist, social workers...all are accountable to their respective rules of professional conduct and codes of ethics. Unless checked, these professionals will continue to do untold damage to countless families through their incompetence, negligence, or simply callous indifference.
Parental alienation is child abuse. And abusive behavior should neither be condoned nor excused. It’s time to make the alienators and their enablers PAY for their abusive actions. This presentation will discuss legal remedies that are available to targeted parents and grandparents when seeking redress and monetary damages for the severe financial and emotional distress that they have suffered due to parental alienation.
Ashish Joshi is the owner and managing partner of Joshi: Attorneys + Counselors. He serves as the lead counsel in high-stakes, complex family law and divorce cases. He has counseled and/or represented clients in state and federal courts across the United States and internationally, including in India, United Kingdom, Canada, Luxembourg, Japan, Hong Kong, British Virgin Islands, and China. Mr. Joshi has been admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, state bars of New York, Michigan, the District of Columbia, and Gujarat, India. Mr. Joshi serves as a senior editor of Litigation, the flagship journal of the ABA’s Section of Litigation, and on the advisory board of The Champion, the journal published by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). He is the author of the forthcoming book, Litigating Parental Alienation.
Please note by checking the "I agree button here, you understand you do not have permission to record these calls or share with others. You also have purchased a 1 time playback. These are property of Family Access- Fighting for Children's Rights. We also have submitted copyrights for each of these calls. Once registered, please email me at familyaccessinnc@aol.com with the number you are calling in on and I will give you your call in instructions. Thanks!
Lynn Steinberg, Ph.D, LMFT
"HOW TO DOCUMENT AND PROVE A CASE OF PARENTAL ALIENATION"
When targeted parents discover that they have been alienated from their child or children, they are likely to experience a tsunami of powerful emotions—shock, pain, disbelief, confusion, paralysis, and many others. In this very practical presentation, Dr. Lynn Steinberg will review how alienated parents and grandparents can recognize what is happening—not only to recognize the alienation itself, but related behaviors such as manipulative behavior by the alienating parent and dysfunctional behavior by the alienated child or children. Although she will review some of the well-known features of parental alienation her main focus will be on how to document the most relevant and important behaviors for the benefit of mental health and legal professionals, that is, for therapists, evaluators, attorneys, and courts. Having such skills can make the difference between a good outcome and a poor one. More specifically, Dr. Steinberg will present techniques that targeted parents and grandparents can use to expose and (hopefully) neutralize various alienating strategies.
There’s an old saying: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. It’s important for targeted parents to keep this in mind. Although it’s understandable that targeted parents can present with the Four A’s—that is, to come across as Anxious, Agitated, Angry, and Afraid—that can be a recipe for disaster when dealing with anyone, even your friends and family, let alone court-appointed professionals.
How can targeted parents make a good impression—or, for that matter, the best impression? Why might an abusive alienating parent present better than a non-abusive alienated parent? What can alienated parents do to get their messages across? Dr. Steinberg will address these and related points. Meanwhile, a short answer would be to remember the Four C’s—to be Cool, Calm, Charming, and Convincing. Unfortunately, for reasons to be discussed, alienating parents tend to be better at this than targeted parents. Likewise, it’s important to keep in mind another old saying: You need to sell yourself before you can sell your positions or opinions.
Indeed, that might be the single most important thing for alienated parents to keep in mind, especially when dealing with professionals, many of whom are likely to be skeptical, if not dismissive, of any parent who presents with the Four A’s. That is likely to be all the more important if the child or children have expressed a strong preference for one parent—the favored parent—over the other.
If you are one of those “other” parents—or if you are a mental health or legal professional who works with such parents—this presentation should be very helpful.
When targeted parents discover that they have been alienated from their child or children, they are likely to experience a tsunami of powerful emotions—shock, pain, disbelief, confusion, paralysis, and many others. In this very practical presentation, Dr. Lynn Steinberg will review how alienated parents and grandparents can recognize what is happening—not only to recognize the alienation itself, but related behaviors such as manipulative behavior by the alienating parent and dysfunctional behavior by the alienated child or children. Although she will review some of the well-known features of parental alienation her main focus will be on how to document the most relevant and important behaviors for the benefit of mental health and legal professionals, that is, for therapists, evaluators, attorneys, and courts. Having such skills can make the difference between a good outcome and a poor one. More specifically, Dr. Steinberg will present techniques that targeted parents and grandparents can use to expose and (hopefully) neutralize various alienating strategies.
There’s an old saying: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. It’s important for targeted parents to keep this in mind. Although it’s understandable that targeted parents can present with the Four A’s—that is, to come across as Anxious, Agitated, Angry, and Afraid—that can be a recipe for disaster when dealing with anyone, even your friends and family, let alone court-appointed professionals.
How can targeted parents make a good impression—or, for that matter, the best impression? Why might an abusive alienating parent present better than a non-abusive alienated parent? What can alienated parents do to get their messages across? Dr. Steinberg will address these and related points. Meanwhile, a short answer would be to remember the Four C’s—to be Cool, Calm, Charming, and Convincing. Unfortunately, for reasons to be discussed, alienating parents tend to be better at this than targeted parents. Likewise, it’s important to keep in mind another old saying: You need to sell yourself before you can sell your positions or opinions.
Indeed, that might be the single most important thing for alienated parents to keep in mind, especially when dealing with professionals, many of whom are likely to be skeptical, if not dismissive, of any parent who presents with the Four A’s. That is likely to be all the more important if the child or children have expressed a strong preference for one parent—the favored parent—over the other.
If you are one of those “other” parents—or if you are a mental health or legal professional who works with such parents—this presentation should be very helpful.
Please note by checking the "I agree button here, you understand you do not have permission to record these calls or share with others. You also have purchased a 1 time playback. These are property of Family Access- Fighting for Children's Rights. We also have submitted copyrights for each of these calls. Once registered, please email me at familyaccessinnc@aol.com with the number you are calling in on and I will give you your call in instructions. Thanks!
"HOW TO COPE WITH THE HOLIDAYS"
As those of us who are alienated from our precious family members, we know all too well how difficult the holidays are. This call has 8 of the experts who shared with us their thoughts on how to cope with the holidays. This was the absolute best "How to Cope" calls we have ever had.
Our guest speakers for this call were Dr. John Killinger, Dr. J Michael Bone, Linda Gottlieb, Dr. Amy Baker, Dr. Colleen Murray, Dr. Steven Miller, Robert Hoffman, and Dr. Mark Mosk.
Please note by checking the "I agree button here, you understand you do not have permission to record these calls or share with others. You also have purchased a 1 time playback. These are property of Family Access- Fighting for Children's Rights. We also have submitted copyrights for each of these calls. Once registered, please email me at familyaccessinnc@aol.com with the number you are calling in on and I will give you your call in instructions. Thanks!
Linda Gottlieb, LMFT, LCSW - R
"ESCAPING THE THERAPY TRAP: MAKING CONTRAINDICATED TRADITIONAL REUNIFICATION WORK FOR YOU"This presentation by Linda Gottlieb deals with how to select a therapist who is a specialist in alienation; identifying the flaws in traditional reunification therapy; how to get the non-specialist fired; and how to turn the traditional reunification therapy you typically get stuck with it to work for you.
Traditional reunification therapy is generally ordered by the court to treat seriously disrupted and/or damaged parent-child relationships, even though traditional reunification therapy is contraindicated to treat severe and many moderate cases of alienation. Contraindicated means forbidden. Although the courts typically order one successive round of traditional therapy after another, it rarely dawns on the court and and on other professionals that is not the therapist who was the reason for the therapies' failure- it is the intervention itself that is the problem. This presentation is designed to help alienated parents and grandparents and their lawyers being proactive in the process of selecting the appropriate treatment intervention initially, and if unsuccessful, how to make a case for a motion to be filed for an appropriate treatment intervention. Linda is a New York State Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker who is also a published author on family therapy and parental alienation. Linda has been frequently cited and referenced by other authors and experts in the field. Linda was trained by the world-renowned, highly respected child psychiatrist, Salvador Minuchin. After she completed her training at the Minuchin Center for the Family, Linda served on the Center’s faculty from 2003-2007 where she trained child psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals who wished to learn the techniques of Dr. Minuchin’s structural family therapy. Linda’s professional services to 5000 children and their families in multiple settings and in multiple roles span 50 years. She began her work with 3000 adjudicated abused and/or neglected children in New York’s foster care system. Subsequent to this experience, Linda transitioned in 1994 into the mental health system at South Shore Child Guidance Center in Freeport, Long Island where she designed, implemented, and supervised a home-based crisis intervention program to prevent the psychiatric hospitalization of a child. Linda additionally accepted referrals and appointments from local family courts to provide family counseling and parent coordination services to parents who were engaged in adversarial custody conflicts. In 2003, Linda focused her practice almost exclusively on helping parents settle their custody conflicts in the best interests of their children. After writing her 2012 book on parental alienation, Linda further concentrated her clinical practice on the sub- specialty of parental alienation—a highly dysfunctional family dynamic that is accepted by overwhelming consensus within the scientific community to be a profound form of psychological child abuse. Based upon what Linda had learned from the clinical literature, from colleagues who are leading experts in the field of alienation, and from her extensive evidence-based practice with approximately 650 alienated children and with approximately 1000 children whose parents were undergoing separation/divorce but who did not experience alienation, Linda developed a specialized reunification intervention to treat unjustifiably severed/severely damaged parent-child relationships. The intervention had proven to be highly successful—even in cases in which the severed parent-child relationships exceeded 4 years. In 2015, Linda further refined her specialized reunification intervention, and it became the treatment protocol she now employs at Turning Points for Families, her 4-day intensive intervention to jump-start unjustified severed/severely damaged parent-child relationships. Linda further provides supervision in alienation and estrangement to custody evaluators, clinicians, forensic evaluators, and to other professionals who intervene in custody cases in which alienation is alleged. Linda also maintains a small practice testifying as an expert witness in family dynamics, alienation, estrangement, family therapy, and child abuse. Please note by checking the "I agree button here, you understand you do not have permission to record these calls or share with others. You also have purchased a 1 time playback. These are property of Family Access- Fighting for Children's Rights. We also have submitted copyrights for each of these calls. Once registered, please email me at familyaccessinnc@aol.com with the number you are calling in on and I will give you your call in instructions. Thanks! Robert Hoffman,
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"UNCOVERING THE ALIENATED CHILD'S FEELINGS AND NEEDS"This presentation will educate the alienated parent about techniques for uncovering your child’s genuine, positive feelings for you with the goal of expanding your ability to inform the numerous professionals who have become coopted by the alienating your—just as your child did. Exactly as a cult member mimics the words of the cult leader, brainwashed children mimic the words of their alienating parent. Alienated children have become disconnected from their own thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. Their message to their therapist and attorney is therefore disassociated from what they really feel—but nonetheless accepted as belonging to the child—with tragic results.
Words are commonly not the most reliable medium for conveying accurate messages and genuine feelings. And yet the child’s words are accepted by their therapist and attorney to have prima facie value. It is irrational to place so much weight on verbal expressions: we have so many truisms about the unreliability of words: “Actions speak louder than words; people will doubt what you say but believe what you do; put your money where your mouth is, speak softly but carry a big stick, (well, OK!) And especially when it comes to alienated children, their words describe a fictional world; their expressions are frequently delusional, and their silly and ridiculous comments would be laughable were it not for the gravity of the situation. Based on the above, traditional talk therapy—play therapy for younger children—fail to uncover the alienated child’s true feelings and beliefs. Traditional, non-alienation aware therapists, in fact, reinforce the alienated child’s distorted beliefs and imagined feelings. This is not helpful! Invariably, alienated parents become extremely frustrated by and infuriated with the very professional who is supposed to improve their relationships with their alienated child but, instead, makes matters intensely worse. In this presentation, I will discuss the many ways that traditional therapies and traditional reunification therapy fail to improve the parent-child relationship and actually makes things catastrophically worse. I will suggest alternative techniques to uncover the alienated child’s genuine feelings and beliefs. And I will discuss effective ways to reestablish the severed parent-child relationship. Armed with this knowledge, alienated parents will be hopefully able to educate their child’s therapist about the many anti-therapeutic interventions that occur in traditional therapy—even in traditional reunification therapy. In many states, the child is assigned her/his own attorney—just what an alienated child needs to further facilitate her/his inappropriate empowerment! As opposed to law guardians and guardian ad litmus—who are obliged to represent the best interests of the child—the child’s attorney is obligated to represent her/his wishes. Well, it is no mystery what a brainwashed child is going to wish for! In this segment, I will share with you the circumstances under which there is an exception to the mandate of the child’s attorney to represent his client’s wishes. This exception allows the attorney to substitute judgment: that is, represent the child best interests instead of the child’s wishes. Linda is a New York State Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker who is also a published author on family therapy and parental alienation. Linda has been frequently cited and referenced by other authors and experts in the field. Linda was trained by the world-renowned, highly respected child psychiatrist, Salvador Minuchin. After she completed her training at the Minuchin Center for the Family, Linda served on the Center’s faculty from 2003-2007 where she trained child psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals who wished to learn the techniques of Dr. Minuchin’s structural family therapy. Linda’s professional services to 5000 children and their families in multiple settings and in multiple roles span 50 years. She began her work with 3000 adjudicated abused and/or neglected children in New York’s foster care system. Subsequent to this experience, Linda transitioned in 1994 into the mental health system at South Shore Child Guidance Center in Freeport, Long Island where she designed, implemented, and supervised a home-based crisis intervention program to prevent the psychiatric hospitalization of a child. Linda additionally accepted referrals and appointments from local family courts to provide family counseling and parent coordination services to parents who were engaged in adversarial custody conflicts. In 2003, Linda focused her practice almost exclusively on helping parents settle their custody conflicts in the best interests of their children. After writing her 2012 book on parental alienation, Linda further concentrated her clinical practice on the sub- specialty of parental alienation—a highly dysfunctional family dynamic that is accepted by overwhelming consensus within the scientific community to be a profound form of psychological child abuse. Based upon what Linda had learned from the clinical literature, from colleagues who are leading experts in the field of alienation, and from her extensive evidence-based practice with approximately 650 alienated children and with approximately 1000 children whose parents were undergoing separation/divorce but who did not experience alienation, Linda developed a specialized reunification intervention to treat unjustifiably severed/severely damaged parent-child relationships. The intervention had proven to be highly successful—even in cases in which the severed parent-child relationships exceeded 4 years. In 2015, Linda further refined her specialized reunification intervention, and it became the treatment protocol she now employs at Turning Points for Families, her 4-day intensive intervention to jump-start unjustified severed/severely damaged parent-child relationships. Linda further provides supervision in alienation and estrangement to custody evaluators, clinicians, forensic evaluators, and to other professionals who intervene in custody cases in which alienation is alleged. Linda also maintains a small practice testifying as an expert witness in family dynamics, alienation, estrangement, family therapy, and child abuse. Please note by checking the "I agree button here, you understand you do not have permission to record these calls or share with others. You also have purchased a 1 time playback. These are property of Family Access- Fighting for Children's Rights. We also have submitted copyrights for each of these calls. Once registered, please email me at familyaccessinnc@aol.com with the number you are calling in on and I will give you your call in instructions. Thanks! |
"HOW TO LITIGATE AND OTHERWISE MANAGE A CASE OF PARENTAL ALIENATION"Among other things, Mr. Hoffman will address how targeted parents can avoid certain predictable pitfalls. Specific topics will include direct examination of experts for the targeted parents, cross-examination of experts for the alienating parents, and both direct and cross examinations of court-appointed experts including custody evaluators, psychological or psychiatric evaluators, guardians ad litem, visitation supervisors, parenting coordinators, and others. Another key theme will be how to distinguish between science and pseudoscience in the courtroom. Because Mr. Hoffman will focus on basic principles – including practical considerations for dealing with alienating parents and also court-appointed professionals – this is likely to be extraordinarily helpful not only to litigating parents and their attorneys, but to alienated parents and grandparents in general.
Robert Hoffman is Board certified in family law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is also a member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Robert has been practicing family law for 33 years. He has been successful in handling as lead counsel numerous bench and jury trials and negotiating highly contested child custody battles, high net worth divorces, complex financial disputes and cases involving parental alienation. He successfully represented Kelly Jones against Alex Jones (Infowars fame) in a jury trial in Austin, Texas in 2016. He is well-known and specializes in trying complex cases. Robert enjoys working closely with and advocating for people at a critical time in their lives. Robert has been consistently included in Texas Super Lawyers 2003-2019 and Best Lawyers Please note by checking the "I agree" button here, you understand you do not have permission to record these calls or share with others. You also have purchased a 1 time playback. These are property of Family Access- Fighting for Children's Rights. We also have submitted copyrights for each of these calls. Once registered, please email me at familyaccessinnc@aol.com with the number you are calling in on and I will give you your call in instructions. Thanks! William Bernet, M. D.
"THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF PARENTAL ALIENATION"Since parental alienation (PA) was identified in the 1980’s, the topic has been criticized and even scorned for several reasons. Part of the problem has been the inconsistent terminology used by researchers, practitioners, and other writers—including “parental alienation syndrome,” “parental alienation,” “parental alienation disorder,” and various other terms. This concept has also been criticized because there has not been a consensus among professionals as to how to identify or diagnose this serious mental condition. However, research has been conducted in recent years, which has made it possible to create a systematic way to diagnose PA, which we call the Five-Factor Model.
In this Family Access presentation, Dr. Bernet will explain the Five-Factor Model for the diagnosis of PA, which consists of the following: Factor One: the child manifests contact resistance or refusal, i.e., avoids a relationship with one of the parents. Factor Two: the presence of a prior positive relationship between the child and the now rejected parent. Factor Three: the absence of abuse, neglect, or seriously deficient parenting on the part of the now rejected parent. Factor Four: the use of multiple alienating behaviors on the part of the favored parent. Factor Five: the child exhibits many of the eight behavioral manifestations of alienation. This topic will be of interest to parents and grandparents, since it is reassuring for them to know that there is an evidence-based way to identify and diagnose this mental condition. This topic will be of particular interest to clinicians, so that they can identify PA in a consistent, systematic manner. And this topic is important for legal professionals, since the Five-Factor Model is a good way to explain PA in legal briefs and in court. Bottom line: In order to advance research, public education, and legislation regarding PA, we all need to be on the same page. We need to use the same terminology and the have the same criteria for the identification of PA. Clinicians, forensic practitioners, legal professionals, child advocates, and parents should try to use consistent terminology and criteria when they discuss and write about this topic. Dr. William Bernet, a graduate of Holy Cross College and Harvard Medical School, is a professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He is board certified in general psychiatry, child psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. As an expert in forensic psychiatry, Dr. Bernet has testified about 300 times in 22 states. He has written professional articles and book chapters on a variety of subjects, including: group and individual therapy with children and adolescents; humor in psychotherapy; forensic child psychiatry; child maltreatment; true and false allegations of abuse; satanic ritual abuse; reincarnation; child custody and visitation; parental alienation; testimony regarding behavioral genomics; and risk management. In 2007, Dr. Bernet and Judge Don R. Ash published Children of Divorce: A Practical Guide for Parents, Therapists, Attorneys, and Judges. Dr. Bernet edited Parental Alienation, DSM-5, and ICD-11, which was published in 2010. Dr. Bernet and his colleagues edited Parental Alienation: The Handbook for Mental Health and Legal Professionals, which was published in 2013. Most recently, Dr. Bernet and Dr. Demosthenes Lorandos have edited a new book, Parental Alienation—Science and Law, to be published in 2020. Dr. Bernet was the founder and first president of the Parental Alienation Study Group (PASG), which now has about 700 members from 55 countries. Family Access participants may want to join PASG. If you want to do that, go to the website (www.pasg.info) and send a message through the Contact Us link. Please note by checking the "I agree" button here, you understand you do not have permission to record these calls or share with others. You also have purchased a 1 time playback. These are property of Family Access- Fighting for Children's Rights. We also have submitted copyrights for each of these calls. Once registered, please email me at familyaccessinnc@aol.com with the number you are calling in on and I will give you your call in instructions. Thanks! "MISINFORMATION AND FAKE NEWS REGARDING PARENTAL ALIENATION"Since parental alienation syndrome (PAS) was identified in the 1980’s, there has been a remarkable amount of misinformation about this topic. This misinformation has been published in professional journals, presented at conferences, and distributed through internet websites and blogs. This false information continues to be propagated by individuals who hope to discredit the concepts of PAS and parental alienation (PA). It is not known whether those individuals act out of ignorance or knowingly spread misinformation regarding PA/PAS, a serious mental condition. This proliferation of misinformation regarding PA may be unique in the history of psychiatry and psychology.
In this presentation, Dr. Bernet will relate a number of examples of published misinformation regarding PA/PAS. Each case study will include: the false statements that were published in the medical or legal professional literature; the names of the individuals who made the false statements; and the steps that were taken to refute the falsehoods and correct the record. Dr. Bernet will explain what participants can do to counteract the false information that they see or hear. Here are several examples of false information regarding PA/PAS, which will be addressed: In his regular column in Clinical Psychiatry News (2003), Paul Fink, M.D., referred to PAS as a “bit of junk science invented by … Dr. Richard A. Gardner.” He went on to say that father’s rights groups, “who don’t like to be interfered with when they are sexually abusing their children,” petitioned the DSM-5 Task Force to include PAS in DSM-5. Protests were written to the editor of Clinical Psychiatry News, and Fink subsequently admitted the reality of PA and apologized for his insulting statements. A book, Abuse against Women and Children (2013), was published in Sweden by Christian Diesen and Eva Diesen. The authors stated that PAS was “a quasi-scientific theory” and that Richard Gardner was “an adherent of pedophilia.” Formal complaints were submitted to Norstedts Juridik (the publisher) and Stockholm University (the employer of Professor Christian Diesen). Vincenzo Puppo, M.D., a physician in Tunisia, wrote a letter to the editor of the Journal of Forensic Sciences (2018), in which he made false statements about an article recently published in that journal. Puppo claimed that PAS “is unknown in medical settings, unquoted in medical books.” His false statements were refuted by a response published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, back-to-back with the letter from Puppo. Robert Geffner, Ph.D., was one of the authors of Family Evaluation in Custody Litigation (2018), a book published by the American Psychological Association. The book made several problematic statements, including: “No evaluator should base conclusions or recommendations on [PAS].” Formal complaints were submitted to the leadership of the American Psychological Association. The U.S. House of Representatives considered H. Con. Res. 72 (2017), a resolution that referred to “scientifically unsound theories such as parental alienation syndrome.” Many child advocates contacted their representatives and successfully campaigned to have that untrue statement removed from the resolution. Bottom line: We live in an age of widespread misinformation. Clinicians, forensic practitioners, legal professionals, child advocates, and parents should stay vigilant when they read articles or listen to presentations about PA, PAS, and other topics that might be considered controversial. Dr. William Bernet, a graduate of Holy Cross College and Harvard Medical School, is a professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He is board certified in general psychiatry, child psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. As an expert in forensic psychiatry, Dr. Bernet has testified about 300 times in 22 states. He has written professional articles and book chapters on a variety of subjects, including: group and individual therapy with children and adolescents; humor in psychotherapy; forensic child psychiatry; child maltreatment; true and false allegations of abuse; satanic ritual abuse; reincarnation; child custody and visitation; parental alienation; testimony regarding behavioral genomics; and risk management. In 2007, Dr. Bernet and Judge Don R. Ash published Children of Divorce: A Practical Guide for Parents, Therapists, Attorneys, and Judges. Dr. Bernet edited Parental Alienation, DSM-5, and ICD-11, which was published in 2010. Dr. Bernet and his colleagues edited Parental Alienation: The Handbook for Mental Health and Legal Professionals, which was published in 2013. Most recently, Dr. Bernet and Dr. Demosthenes Lorandos have edited a new book, Parental Alienation—Science and Law, to be published in 2020. Dr. Bernet was the founder and first president of the Parental Alienation Study Group (PASG), which now has about 700 members from 55 countries. Family Access participants may want to join PASG. If you want to do that, go to the website (www.pasg.info) and send a message through the Contact Us link. Please note by checking the "I agree" button here, you understand you do not have permission to record these calls or share with others. You also have purchased a 1 time playback. These are property of Family Access- Fighting for Children's Rights. We also have submitted copyrights for each of these calls. Once registered, please email me at familyaccessinnc@aol.com with the number you are calling in on and I will give you your call in instructions. Thanks!
J Michael Bone,
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Amy Baker,
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Robert Evans, Ph.D
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