With special guest:
- Dr Craig Childress
Why is parental alienation such a controversial topic?
Nearly everyone knows someone who has had a child turned against them after separation of the parents. It happens unfortunately all over the world and looks remarkably similar wherever you find it. The construct was defined and given a label, “parental alienation” some thirty years ago by Dr Richard Gardner. More recently there has been a strong push to have it included as a separate diagnosis in the therapists’ “Bible” the DSM-5.
Yet despite support from leading Psychologists in the USA and elsewhere parental alienation is still regarded as a controversial topic in the courtroom and even among therapists. Unafraid of controversy our guest today, Dr Craig Childress, has entered the fray and written a book called An Attachment-Based Model of Parental Alienation: Foundations in which he sets out clearly how to bring the controversy to an end. While recognising the enormous contribution of Richard Gardner, Dr Childress explains why the Gardner model has not been able to gain traction and is still a controversial topic. This new approach is indisputably going to be controversial itself but at the very least Dr Childress proposes a way forward in a comprehensive and clear fashion. Some parts of this book are intended to get the professionals on board, other parts will have readers thinking he must know the people I know to be writing this.
Finally we have a clear way of diagnosing parental alienation that sticks to theories that have been long accepted by therapists and courts. With a clear diagnosis Dr Childress proceeds to discuss the causes of the condition leading to clear guidelines on how to treat it. At last the victims of this emotional abuse can see a way forward.
Our guest today has been engaged as an expert consultant and witness in legal cases involving parental alienation across the United States and Canada. He now brings that expertise in a very accessible way to the listeners on Dads on the Air for Parental Alienation Awareness Day.
Dr Craig Childress
Dr Craig Childress is a licensed clinical Psychologist in Pasadena California. He specialises in child and family therapy, marital therapy and child development. Dr Childress has a secondary specialty in early childhood mental health that includes an understanding of the neuro-development of the brain during childhood.
Dr Childress also currently teaches graduate level courses in models of Psychotherapy, assessment and treatment planning Diagnosis and Psychopathology, Research Methods and Child Development through the University of Phoenix. He has written extensively on what he terms “an attachment-based model of parental alienation”. Listeners can follow his blog here.
Song selection by our guest: Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie