Articles and Essaysx

These are my online articles and essays.


Parental Alienation as Child Abuse (2010)

This is the first essays I wrote, a decade ago.  It was as true then as it is now, 10 years of child abuse, unrecognized by professional psychology, untreated by professional psychology.  Where is the American Psychological Asssociation and a call for professional competence?


American Psychological Association (Childress & Pruter, 2019)

This is the article we presented at the national convention of the American Psychological Association in 2019.  This article formally presents the High Road workshop single-case ABA clinical research data.


Blog: High Road Single-Case ABA (Childress, 2019)

This is my blog presenting the High Road single-case APA clinical case data.


Petition to the APA (Childress & 20,000 Parents, 2019)

This is the Petition to the APA submitted directly to the American Psychologcial Association offices on June 6, 2018 by a delegation of Wendy Perry, Rod McCall, and Dr. Childress.  At the time, the Petition to the APA was signed by over 19,000 parents, that number has grown and continues to grow:

The Petition to the APA describes rampant and unchecked ethical code violations within forensic psychology and seeks three remedies, 1) an immediate press release from the APA affirming their support for Standard 2.01 on professional competence, 2) a formal reconsideration of their Position Statement on PAS since there are now two models describing the pathology – AB-PA (Bowlby, Minuchin, Beck).

The American Psychological Association has yet to reply.

Reconceptualizing Parental Alienation: Parental Personality Disorder and the Trans-­‐generational Transmission of Attachment Trauma (Childress, 2013)


The Attachment-Related Pathology of “Parental Alienation” (Childress, 2017)

This is a brief summary description for an attachment-based model for the pathology traditionally called “parental alienation.”


Parental Alienation is Not a New Pathology (Childress, 2016)

This is an essay discussing the foundations for an attachment-based description of “parental alienation” pathology.


Assessing the Behavior Chain in Parent-Child Confict (Childress, 2016)

The behavior-chain is a foundational principle of Applied Behavioral Analysis used to identify the cue structure for a behavior.


The Failure of Gardnerian PAS (Childress, 2013)

This is an essay on the abject failure of Gardnerian PAS as a diagnostic and descriptive model of pathology.


Foundations Introduction (Childress, 2015)

This is the Introduction Chapter from An Attachment-Based Model of Parental Alienation: Foundations.


The Domestic Violence of Parental Alienation (Childress, 2016)


The Hostage Metaphor (Childress, 2014)

This is an essay describing the child as a hostage of the allied parent.


The Construction of Meaning, the Developing Brain, and Parental Alienation (Childress, 2011)

This is an early essay on the co-construction of meaning in the pathological parent-child relationship with the allied parent.  Moving into intersubjectivity and the neuro-development of the brain will be important.


AB-PA & Boundaries of Competence (Childress, 2013)

This is an brief essay on AB-PA and professional boundaries of competence.


Parental Alienation and Personality Disorder Dynamics (Childress, 2012)

This is an early essay on the personality disorder aspect of the pathology during the phase when I was working that out.


The Narcissistic Personality in Divorce and the Origins of Parental Alienation Processes (Childress, 2011)

This is one of my more fully elaborated discussions of the personality disorder pathology.  That was what I was focused on working out in 2010-2012.


The Attachment System in Parental Alienation (Childress, 2012)

This is a description of how suppression of normal-range attachment bonding motivations in the child is achieved.


The Trans-generational Structure of Parental Alienation (Childress, 2010)

This is an early handout depicting the trans-generational transmission of attachment trauma.


The Trauma Reenactment Narrative (Childress, 2010)

This is an early description of the trauma reenactment narrative.


Assessment & Diagnosis

Essays Book: Diagnostic Indicators (Chapter 4)

This is a description of the Diagnostic Indicators of AB-PA.  It is Chapter 4 from my book Essays: The Internet Writings of Dr. Childress and this essay can also be found on my blog (Diagnostic Indicators & Associated Clinical Signs).

Treatment Focused Assessment Protocol (Childress, 2016)

This is a description of the recommended treatment-focused assessment protocol.

Recommended Assessment Protocol Statement (Childress, 2016)

This is a  another description of the recommended treatment focused assessment protocol.

Diagram of AB-PA Pathology (Childress, 2016)

This is a diagram of the AB-PA pathology, with the personality pathology represented in the middle and the attachemnt pathology on the sides.


Treating AB-PA

Treatment-Related Considerations (Childress, nd)

This is an essay describing the treatment-related considerations surrounding high-intensity family conflict surrounding divorce.

Strategic Family Systems Treatment Plan (Childress, nd)

This is a description of a Strategic family systems treatment plan for high-intensity family conflict surrounding divorce.

Treating “Parental Alienation” (Childress, 2014)

This essay offers an overview of the treatment factors surrounding the pathology of AB-PA.

Single Case ABAB Remedy Description (Childress, 2015)

This is a description of the single case ABAB remedy protocol.

Legislative Changes to Child Abuse Reporting Laws