A Deep Dive into PAS (part one)

Shocking info revealed in video.

Almost 20 years have passed since I first discovered what Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) and its sister pathology, Parental Alienation (PA), are. I continue to research this devastating pathology and have been watching a video that I feel is one of the most informative and eye-opening I have yet seen:

Dr. Craig Childress at California Southern University School of Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Craig Childress, perhaps more than any licensed professional in my research, has helped to bring the often controversial discussion of PAS into being recognized as an official pathology using standard and long accepted psychological constructs for its validation.

In this video, there was much new information that pertains to my own immediate family dysfunctions and I will list some of these findings.

When I first started research into what was happening with my daughters (who I could see with my own eyes were slipping away from me virtually each time I saw them during my parenting time), I was soon struck with the uncanny resemblance PAS/PA had with my situation.

As I acquainted myself with the different terms used in describing PAS/PA (“alienation,” “targeted parent,” “alienating parent,” etc.) and the warning signs that a parent like myself could watch for to see if my children exhibited any of the same indicators, it was jaw-dropping to see how perfectly aligned my observations were with my children and these markers associated with PAS/PA. In fact, I found it uncanny because of the almost perfect alignment with the signs and symptoms being manifested by my daughters and the comparison with PAS/PA.

When dealing with psychological symptoms, often the description of the particular disorder is so broad that it could apply to almost anyone. For example, someone with “obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)” has symptoms such as “fear of being contaminated by touching objects others have touched.” But because of Covid, who hasn’t had this fear?

Or, “doubts that you’ve locked the door or turned off the stove.” I often have doubts about locking my door when I leave but never about worrying I did not turn off the stove. Visiting my friends in Ohio who have eight children, the wife told me about a time or two that she or the kids left the stove on when they all left for several hours and the food on the stovetop burned, filling the house with acrid smoke. I don’t think it is unreasonable to have these “alleged” fears, but then again, maybe I possess certain OCD characteristics.

Or maybe some of the various indicators associated with these “disorders” are so broad and over-generalized that the majority of people in America could have them and we are worried about nothing, finding a boogey-man under every bed. Look hard enough in these lists of unhealthy behaviors and attitudes and we can always find some that fit.

I studied sociology at the University of AZ and believe my final choice on what career path I wanted to pursue was in this discipline. Though I did not graduate, I found the subject matter fascinating and felt, if I had pursued it, might have made a decent sociologist, and perhaps, with additional advanced education, even a decent psychologist or psychiatrist.

With PAS, though, while I may have found myself manifesting/exhibiting say, five or six characteristics from a list of 15 that apply to OCD, I was batting near 100% with PAS. This was startling, and that batting average still remains as high almost 20 years later. In other words, what happened to my children and I, in my opinion, is absolutely, without question, due to the narcissistic pathology of PAS from a mother who is afflicted with a narcissistic/ (borderline) personality disorder.

I will create a series of different “parts” that I will then independently publish as I finish them. This, as you can read from the title, is Part One. Since it might take me weeks to go through the entire video and comment, what I will do is continue to publish these parts (Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, etc.) under my ever-growing “Divorce and PAS” heading and continue the series this way.

This video, though, is so excellent that I wish to post it now, without much comment. I have found that if I wait until I am 100% satisfied with a particular posting, I may never post it at all. I have many such “drafts” even now on this blog site that await publication but I am not satisfied or ready to make them public. Perhaps this is indicative of OCD? It might be.