These are resources for parents.

This is an essay describing the pathology, its diagnosis and treatment

Booklets written for parents to give to involved professionals:

This booklet is written for parent to provide to their involved legal professionals and mental health professionals.  It is structured around direct quotes from the professional literature.

This booklet is written at a professional-level for parents to provide to their involved mental health professional.  It specifically alerts the mental health professional to their ethical obligations.

This booklet is written for parents and their legal counsel to provide to involved mental health professionals and the court when seeking a treatment-focused clinical psychology assessment of the family pathology.  It describes the type of assessment protocol sought.

This booklet is written for parents and their legal counsel to provide to involved mental health professionals and the court when seeking a Strategic family systems treatment plan for the family conflict in lieu of a protective separation for Child Psychological Abuse.

DSM-5 Dagnostic Formulations from Foundations. (Childress, 2015, p. 312-313).

This is the DSM-5 diagnostic formulation for an attachment-based model of “parental alienation” as described in the book, Foundations.  Parents can provide this handout from Foundations to their involved mental health professional.

Sunday Coffee w/ Dr. Childress Talks

Sunday Coffee 12/31/23

Sunday Coffee 1/14/24

Advocacy

In the world of school-based psychology, parent advocacy for special education services is a long-established fact.  The world of school-based psychology has developed the strocng capacity for parent advocacy.

The skill sets needed are identical to court-involved pathology, the content is different. Over in the school-based psychology, the institutional barrier are the schools, in court-involved attachment pathology, the institutional barriers are the courts and forensic psychology.

These are helpful handouts from school-based psychology (Wrightslaw) that are helpful guides for developing parental advocacy in court-involved family conflict.  Switch content, apply principles.

Reference Lists

These are professional-level reference lists that parents can provide to their involved mental health professional regarding aspects of this pathology.  The Psychological Control reference list might be helpful, and the Dark Triad references list is often appropriate for this high-intensity family conflict pathology.

The Reference List for AB-PA is my personal reference list from 2015 surrounding Foundations.  If anyone asks for “peer-reviewed research” for AB-PA, this reference list is the appropriate response, this is the peer-reviewed research for an attachment-based description of “parental alienation” pathology surrounding divorce.

This is the personal reference list of Dr. Childress for AB-PA.  Note the quotes from the relevant literature, reading these direct quotes is a good way for a mental health professional to become oriented to the scope of the pathology.

All mental health professionals treating this pathology should have read all of the material on this Reference list for professional competence.  Ignorance is not acceptable professional practice.

This is a reference list regarding the construct of parental psychological control of the child and the table from Barber & Harmon listing citations of research for the construct of psychological control.

This is a reference list regarding the Dark Triad personality.

Judicial Education Curriculum

California SB-331 proposes a judicial education curriculum. The judicial curriculum offered by SB-331 is inadequate and is not balanced to the concerns of both litigants. An alternative judicial education curriculum is provided:

Professional-to-Professional Consultation Letters:

Regarding Family Therapy (Childress, nd)

This is a professional-to-professional consultation letter to the family therapist discussing treatment approaches for AB-PA pathology.

Professional-to-Professional Consultation Handout (Childress, nd)

This is a handout for parents to provide to their involved mental health professional explaining the pathology.

Letter of Diagnostic Concern: Hostile-Rejecting Child:

This is a letter for parents to provide to their involved mental health professional explaining the pathology surrounding the hostile-rejecting child.

Letter of Diagnostic Concern: Anxious Child

This is a letter for parents to provide to their involved mental health professional explaining the pathology surrounding the anxious child.

Professional Consultation Booklet Introduction

This is the introduction to my booklet, Professional Consultation.  This booklet is written for parents to provide to their involved mental healtlh therapist.

Email Advice to a Parent Regarding Diagnosis (Childress, nd)

This is a response to a parent’s email requesting advice on assessment and diagnosis of AB-PA (“parental alienation”).

Position Statement On Supervised Visitation (Childress, 2020)

This initially appeard as a Facebook post to the Alliance to Solve Parental Alienation.  Parents requested a formal hardcopy of the post.

Symptom Rating Request Letters

The first letter is one I began writing and providing to parents because their involved mental heath people are refusing to provide information to parents regarding the child’s symptom display. The second letter is the same time of letter addressed to the court.

Child Testimony: Chapter from The Narcissistic Parent (Childress, 2016, p. 34-37)

This is the Chapter from The Narcissistic Parent: A Guidebook for Legal Professionals Working with Families in High Conflict Divorce.

Narcissistic Pathology: Quotes Handout

I gave a presentation on the narcissistic personality.  This is the handout of professional quotes I provided.

Silence is Complicity in Child Abuse

This is an essay I wrote extending responsibility to the professional organizations that remain silent regarding the rampant and unchecked violations to the APA ethics code, and about the rampant and unchecked psychological abuse of children.

Dear APA Letters

These are sample formats for letters to the APA asking their advice on what to do.

Structural Family Systems Constructs in Parental Alienation (Childress, 2012)

This is a handout explaining various constructs from Structural family systems therapy applied to the “parental alienation” pathology.

Domestic Violence Support Letter (Childress, 2015)

This is a letter I wrote in support of conceptualizing “parental alienation” as IPV spousal abuse (Intimate Partner Violence)

Support Letter for Changes to Child Abuse Reporting Laws (Childress, nd)

This is a letter of support for changes to the child abuse reporting laws.

Legislation Support Letter (Childress, 2016)

This is a de-identified letter of support I wrote for legislation to change the child abuse reporting laws.

Parent Individual Support Letter (Childress, 2016)

This is a generic letter I wrote for parents to parents, they could request this letter personalized.

Letter to Bystanders (teachers, etc) Regarding Parental Alienation Pathology.

Many parents asked me to write a generic letter to teachers and other “bystanders” explaining the “parental alienation pathology.

Parents Coping with Trauma

This essay is for parents to help them cope with the emotional abuse and trauma they are experiencing.

Ju-jitsu Parenating: Fighting Back from the Down Position (2013)

This is an essay I wrote to help parents with a communication strategy to disarm false reality.

Issues in Recovering the Now-Adult Child of Alienation

This essay discusses the psychological issues of recovering the now-adult alienated child.

Pathogenic Parenting and the Attachment System: Question & Answer Format (Childress, 2012)

This is an early general handout to educate about the attachment system and the pathology of “parental alienation” (pathogenic parenting).

Enmeshed Relationship: Question & Answer Format (Childress, 2012)

This is an early general handout to educate on the enmeshed relationship (psychological fusion)

Licensing Board Complaint Letter Template

This is an example template for the ethical code violations surrounding “parental alienation” pathology.

Dr. Childress: Letters to the Child

  • Letter to Mary (Childress, nd)

This is a generic letter to a female child with a targeted parent mother.

  • Letter to Jason (Childress, nd)

This is a generic letter to a male child with a targeted parent father.

  • Letter to Jessica (Childress, nd)

This is a generic letter to a female child with a targeted parent father.

  • Letter to John (Childress, nd)

This is a generic letter to a male child with a targeted parent father.

Professional Rationale for Protective Separation (Childress, nd)

This is my formal response to the question, “Is there research available that proves the statement that children, once removed from the alienating parent and placed with the targeted parent, recover soon?”

Excerpt from an Initial Consultation Report for a Parent (Childress, nd)

This is an excerpt from an Initial Consultation report I wrote for a parent client (a father) regarding directions and his raising concerns about the mother’s new boyfriend.