American Psychiatric Association Reviews the Science, Recognition of Parental Alienation Disorder

April 28, 2011 - PRLog -- Montreal, CA -  The Canadian Symposium for Parental Alienation Syndrome, (http://www.CSPAS.ca), announced today their upcoming conference titled  “Treatment Solutions for Alienated Children”  which will be taking place on May 28th and May 29th  at Dawson College in Montreal, Canada. Parental Alienation Disorder is defined as a mental condition in which a child - usually one whose parents are engaged in a high conflict divorce- allies himself or herself strongly with one parent and rejects a relationship with the other parent without legitimate justification. The child's maladaptive behavior & refusal to see one of the parents is driven by the false belief that the alienated parent is a dangerous or an unworthy person.  Parental Alienation is not limited to parents of the child but also extends to grandparents and parental guardians. CSPAS offers continuing educational credit courses ( CEU's ) and other  educational services to mental health and family law professionals who want more information and expertise in managing the parental alienation dynamic. In addition, the CSPAS provides a free referral service to help the public locate qualified mental health clinicians, family mediators and family law lawyers able to assist children and other family members with parental alienation relationship problems.  

Many of the leading experts in the field of parental alienation will be presenting at the CSPAS conference, including their Keynote Speaker, psychiatrist William Bernet, M.D. from Vanderbilt University and respected scientific peers including Abraham Worenklein, Ph.D, Douglas Darnall, Ph.D., Richard Sauber,  Ph.D., Michael Bone, Ph.D., Terence Campbell, Ph.D. and Glenn Ross Caddy, Ph.D.  The host and Founder of the CSPAS is Joseph Goldberg, and the website for his organization is http://www.cspas.ca.  The proposal that parental alienation become an official diagnosis was published in the book, Parental Alienation, DSM-5, and ICD-11, edited by William Bernet, M.D. who was assisted by 70 contributing authors from 12 countries.  

“Some critics of parental alienation have said that there is not enough research about parental alienation for it to become an official diagnosis,” stated Dr. William Bernet in a recent interview. “The critics who make that argument are simply misinformed. When we collected and organized the research regarding parental alienation, we located more than 500 books, in depth book chapters, and articles regarding parental alienation from the professional literature of 30 countries. There is an overwhelming amount of research to support that parental alienation really exists and is a serious international problem.”

Dr. William Bernet presented the proposal to the A.P.A. that Parental Alienation Disorder (P.A.D.) be considered for inclusion in the DSM - 5, in 2008.  Since then, the DSM-5 task force members have been deluged with information on this phenomenon: information that includes research studies, scientific monographs, DVDs of scientific proceedings, books and letters written by victims of parental alienation.  More recently, senior officials of the DSM-5 task force have stated that they are seriously considering the adoption of Parental Alienation Relational Problem for inclusion in the upcoming DSM - 5.  Within the DSM, a relational problem is currently defined as 'a pattern of interaction between or among members of a relational unit that are associated with clinically significant impairment in functioning.'  Many mental health professionals, especially family therapists, favor the diagnosis of “Parental Alienation Relational Problem” because it labels the family system as the focus of the problem, not the child.

In 2010 the country of Brazil made it a criminal penalty to alienate a child and in Spain, the Spanish Psychological Association accepted the diagnosis of Parental Alienation Syndrome (P.A.S.). One thing no longer in dispute by mental health professionals is the fact that parental alienation is a widely recognized form of child abuse. Some estimate that more than 200,000 children in the United States are victims of parental alienation abuse, every year.

The Canadian Symposium for Parental Alienation Syndrome is hosting a conference on a topic that has never before been so scientifically presented to clinicians. “The Treatment Solutions for the Alienated Child” is a landmark event in the scientific advancement of parental alienation and will be taking place May 28th and May 29th at Dawson College, 3040 Sherbrooke Street, West Westmount, Quebec H3Z 1A4. The conference is free of charge to mental health professionals and will also be filmed for future Continuing Educational Credits (CEU's).


If you are interested in attending the conference, please register online at www.CSPAS.ca, or call 647-476-3170.  For media access to the event please email info@beautifulplanning.com.

About C.S.P.A.S
Founded in 2008 by Joseph Goldberg, The Canadian Symposium for Parental Alienation Syndrome is an educational organization assisting mental health professionals, family law lawyers, family mediators and other professionals to better understand parental alienation and parental alienation syndrome / disorder. Their goal is to assist children and families in need of educational information and referrals to professionals with a specialized expertise for counseling, psychological or psycho-educational services. Parents and professionals in both the family law and mental health communities will be able to locate a number of experts in parental alienation by simply visiting their website. C.S.P.A.S also disseminates information and literature to professionals and to parents. They maintain a strictly educational position and have no political affiliations. The C.S.P.A.S. does not accept funding from any organization affiliated with parental rights, nor do they take a position in favor of or in opposition to equal parenting. For more information visit www.cspas.ca or follow CSPAS on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cspasca

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