Authors: Wilfrid von Boch-Galhau
Induced parental alienation is a specific form of psychological child abuse. Child psychological abuse was recently listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) under the diagnostic code V995.51 and in the World Health Organization (WHO)’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) used world- wide under code QE82.2. Untreated induced parental alienation can lead to long-term traumatic psychological and psychosomatic effects in the children concerned. This fact is still not given sufficient attention in family court cases. This presentation gives a condensed overview of parental alienation, summarising its definition, the symptoms and the various levels of severity. It also describes some major alienation techniques and possible psychosomatic and psychiatric effects of induced parental alienation. Finally, it gives examples of programmes of prevention and intervention in some countries, currently at the trial stage. The presentation concludes with a comprehensive list of international references.
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