Book Review – You get a lot of advice during your divorce. Some you should follow and some you better leave alone. The best advice may not come from your family, close friends, counselors and lawyers. It may come from someone emotionally disconnected who, however, can relate to your situation. Michael Jeffries wants to be that distant friend and offers support with his own experience of extreme parental alienation. If scientific books about alienation do not speak to you, this one may.

Book Review – If you are divorced or if you are in the process of getting divorced, then it is no secret to you that divorce is one of the most painful experiences you will make in your life, especially if children are involved. But no matter how deep and severe the emotional pain, the true casualties are the lives of your children.

If you are like me, then it may have taken you some time to understand what that really means and adjust your life accordingly. And you may have made some decisions that you now know were wrong. Separation and divorce remain one of those unpredictable environments that often seem to lack the kind of common sense that is present in a functional marriage. And if we are honest, that common sense is often missing on both sides, divorced mom and divorced dad.

Parental Rights has a fascinating two-part article on PAS, or Parental Alienation Syndrome. Forensic psychologist Deirde Rand takes a very scientific approach to the topic and if you were ever concerned about PAS and the difference to general parental alienation, then this is a great read for single parents.

Rand’s articles shed some light on Richard Gardner’s work, who first has come up with the term of Parental Alienation Syndrome and examines its significance in legal proceedings as well as their connection to child abuse reports. Deirde states that “there seems to be an increase in PAS type cases of accusations by the alienating parent that it is the alienated parent who is practicing PAS.”