This is a topic worth getting in to albeit I want to say upfront that I feel the syndrome would be better off named" Divorce Related Malicious Parent Syndrome". The following are some information found from the "Journal Of Family Violence".
A mother who unjustifiably punishes her divorcing or divorced husband by Attempting to alienate their mutual child(ren) from the father.
1. Involving others in malicious actions against the father
2. Engaging in excessive litigation
The mother specifically attempts to deny her child(ren):
3. Regular uninterrupted visitation with the father
4. Uninhibited telephone access to the father
5. Paternal participation in the child(ren)'s school life and extra-curricular activities
3. The pattern is pervasive and includes malicious acts towards the husband including:
1. Lying to the children
2. Lying to others
3. Violations of law
4. The disorder is not specifically due to another mental disorder although a separate mental disorder may co-exist.
Some quotes from an established psychologist involved in over 60 books and articles.
I'm certain that the above could be imagined as some of the more drastic occurrences. It's petrifying to me that putrid acts like this actually occur.
Very interesting take.
The recruitment of others to lie and torment the other parent is another variable
Denying regular visitation? Yet another variable. One I know all too well.
This is why one needs to be cautious and document "patterns of malicious behavior". As seen above, malicious behavior isn't malicious if the professional is not cognizant of it. It's been repeated and repeated .. document everything. Although I don't encourage any form of surreptitious recording, if you're confident that there will be some antics that will affect your livelihood, custody, "freedom" .. record everything.
"Scummy" lawyer's (as Mr. T. would correctly put it) tend to eat this up for supper and completely take full advantage of the malicious behavior and tend to pour gasoline on an already blazing fire pit. As mentioned here:
Take on the "sex distribution":
I just felt it was an interesting discussion.
I'm also familiar with Dr. Turkat's work. His work is found in a multitude of peer-reviewed, popular journal's, which as we know are the scientific backbone of the DSM. Dr. Turkat works in many custody cases also and remains a highly sought psychologist.
http://maliciousparentingindivorce.com/
A mother who unjustifiably punishes her divorcing or divorced husband by Attempting to alienate their mutual child(ren) from the father.
1. Involving others in malicious actions against the father
2. Engaging in excessive litigation
The mother specifically attempts to deny her child(ren):
3. Regular uninterrupted visitation with the father
4. Uninhibited telephone access to the father
5. Paternal participation in the child(ren)'s school life and extra-curricular activities
3. The pattern is pervasive and includes malicious acts towards the husband including:
1. Lying to the children
2. Lying to others
3. Violations of law
4. The disorder is not specifically due to another mental disorder although a separate mental disorder may co-exist.
Some quotes from an established psychologist involved in over 60 books and articles.
A divorced man gains custody of his children and his ex-wife burns down his home.
A woman in a custody battle buys a cat for her offspring because her divorcing husband is highly allergic to cats.
A mother forces her children to sleep in a car to "prove" their father has bankrupted them.
A woman in a custody battle buys a cat for her offspring because her divorcing husband is highly allergic to cats.
A mother forces her children to sleep in a car to "prove" their father has bankrupted them.
The media has spent considerable effort raising public awareness about the problem posed by divorced fathers who do not provide court ordered child support payments. Hedges (1991) has noted that less than 20% of divorced fathers provide child support payments three years after their divorce. Research on the decline of women's economic status following divorce (e.g., Hernandez, 1988; Laosa, 1988) has contributed to recent legislation to address the "Deadbeat Dad" problem.
The range of actions taken by a mother to attempt to alienate her children from their father is impressive. For example:
One mother lied to her children that she could no longer buy food because their father had spent all of their money on women at topless bars.
A doctor's wife forced her 10 year old son to apply for federally funded free school lunches to delude the boy that his "daddy has made us poor."
A woman who for years was very close to the children in a custody battle, was asked by their mother to give up neutrality and join her campaign against the father to "dance on his grave." When the friend refused to give up her neutrality, the mother falsely informed her children that their father was having an affair with this woman.
These behaviors, if successful, could lead a child to not only hate the father but perhaps go years without seeing him. As Cartwright (1993) has noted: "The goal of the alienator is crystalline: to deprive the lost parent, not only of the child's time, but of the time of childhood" (p. 210).
One mother lied to her children that she could no longer buy food because their father had spent all of their money on women at topless bars.
A doctor's wife forced her 10 year old son to apply for federally funded free school lunches to delude the boy that his "daddy has made us poor."
A woman who for years was very close to the children in a custody battle, was asked by their mother to give up neutrality and join her campaign against the father to "dance on his grave." When the friend refused to give up her neutrality, the mother falsely informed her children that their father was having an affair with this woman.
These behaviors, if successful, could lead a child to not only hate the father but perhaps go years without seeing him. As Cartwright (1993) has noted: "The goal of the alienator is crystalline: to deprive the lost parent, not only of the child's time, but of the time of childhood" (p. 210).
Experts are in relative agreement that regular and uninterrupted visitation with the non-residential parent is desirable and beneficial for children, except in extreme circumstances (Hedges, 1991). In fact, some states, such as Florida, have laws written to reflect this view (Keane, 1990). Unfortunately, even when the father and children have legal rights to visitation, individuals with Divorce Related Malicious Mother Syndrome continue to interfere with it.
A mother who previously attacked her ex-husband physically during visitation transfers of the children, refused to provide the children when the ex-husband had the police attend to monitor exchanges.
When one divorced father arrived to pick up his children for visitation, the mother arranged for her and the children to be elsewhere so that the father could not visit with the children.
One mother had her physically intimidating boyfriend assault her ex-husband when he came to pick up his children for visitation.
The President of The Council for Children's Rights (Washington, D.C.) notes that such alienation is considered a form of child abuse (Levy, 1992). Unfortunately, the police typically avoid involving themselves in such situations. Furthermore, unless a victimized father is financially capable of returning to court on an ongoing basis, there is little that can be done to prevent such mothers' behavior. Finally, even when such cases are brought to trial, the courts are often inadequate in supporting fathers' visitation rights (Commission on Gender Bias in the Judicial System, 1992).
A mother who previously attacked her ex-husband physically during visitation transfers of the children, refused to provide the children when the ex-husband had the police attend to monitor exchanges.
When one divorced father arrived to pick up his children for visitation, the mother arranged for her and the children to be elsewhere so that the father could not visit with the children.
One mother had her physically intimidating boyfriend assault her ex-husband when he came to pick up his children for visitation.
The President of The Council for Children's Rights (Washington, D.C.) notes that such alienation is considered a form of child abuse (Levy, 1992). Unfortunately, the police typically avoid involving themselves in such situations. Furthermore, unless a victimized father is financially capable of returning to court on an ongoing basis, there is little that can be done to prevent such mothers' behavior. Finally, even when such cases are brought to trial, the courts are often inadequate in supporting fathers' visitation rights (Commission on Gender Bias in the Judicial System, 1992).
An additional difficulty is that many therapists are unaware of this pattern of malicious behavior (Heinz and Heinz, 1993). As such, there are therapists who are "fooled" by such cases and, as noted earlier, will come to court testifying that there is nothing wrong with the mother involved.
"Scummy" lawyer's (as Mr. T. would correctly put it) tend to eat this up for supper and completely take full advantage of the malicious behavior and tend to pour gasoline on an already blazing fire pit. As mentioned here:
From a legal perspective, there are some attorneys who may unintentionally encourage this type of behavior (Gardner, 1989). On the other hand, there are some attorneys who deliberately encourage such behavior, as the financial rewards for them are time dependent. In other words, the more involved the litigation process, the greater the profits for the attorney (Grotman and Thomas, 1990). However, even for the subset of attorneys for whom this may be true, there is a point of diminishing returns. Furthermore, independent of economic considerations, many who become involved with family law courtrooms find that these types of cases are not handled well (Greif, 1985; Levy, 1992).
The issue of sex distribution of the disorder certainly needs to be addressed. The overwhelming majority of custodial parents are female (Commission on Gender Bias in the Judicial System, 1992). Gardner (1989) has noted that Parental Alienation Syndrome appears most commonly in females, although it is possible for a male who has custody of the children to engage in the same type of alienating behaviors. The author's experience with Divorce Related Malicious Mother Syndrome is similar to Gardner's. However, the present writer has yet to see a case of a father engaging in all of the criteria listed. This does not mean that it is not possible for there to be a "Malicious Father" Syndrome. In fact, Shepard (1992) reports that there is significant abuse of some custodial mothers by non-residential fathers. On the other hand, it should be noted that there are females who are required to pay child support, but we have yet to hear about "Deadbeat Moms." Given at the present time that a case in which the father met all of the criteria for Divorce Related Malicious Mother Syndrome has yet to be documented, it appears advisable to await scientific evidence to guide issues of nosologic labeling.
I'm also familiar with Dr. Turkat's work. His work is found in a multitude of peer-reviewed, popular journal's, which as we know are the scientific backbone of the DSM. Dr. Turkat works in many custody cases also and remains a highly sought psychologist.
http://maliciousparentingindivorce.com/
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