AB-PA Facts: ( Origin: Top 15 Things Targeted Parents Need to Know About Attachment -Based Parental Alienation (AB-PA) by J. Hofer & C.A. Childress, 2016 )
1. The only thing Attachment-Based Parental Alienation (AB-PA) has in common with “Parental Alienation Syndrome” (PAS) are the words “Parental Alienation”.
2. AB-PA answers the question “what is the scientifically based psychology behind parental alienation?”
3. AB-PA is not a theory; it is composed entirely of established and accepted peer-reviewed psychological literature. The application of standard and fully accepted psychological constructs and principles to a set of symptoms is called “diagnosis.”
4. AB-PA does not describe a mental illness; it describes a specific set of symptoms in a child which will lead a psychologist to a clinical DSM-5 diagnosis of V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse, Confirmed.
5. AB-PA describes a form of pathogenic parenting, which is a clinical term for parenting behavior that is so aberrant and distorted that it creates psychopathology in a child.
6. AB-PA cannot be rejected by the mental health system because it is entirely drawn from their work.
7. AB-PA provides psychologists with a set of three clinical diagnostic indicators (symptoms) which must all be present in the child.
8. AB-PA is based entirely on the symptoms being displayed by the child; no other person needs to be clinically assessed for symptoms.
9. AB-PA shows how the three symptoms are each evidence of a different psycho-pathology being created in the child.
10. AB-PA describes how the combination of these three psychopathologies can only be created in a child through pathogenic parenting.
11. AB-PA can reliably and consistently make the distinction between ‘oppositional defiant’ children and ‘alienated children.’
12. AB-PA can reliably and consistently make the distinction between authentic child abuse and false allegations of abuse made by a child who is being influenced by pathogenic parenting.
13. AB-PA cannot be misused by an abusive parent to trick the court system into giving them custody.
14. AB-PA can be used by your child’s psychologist today. A confirmed DSM-5 diagnosis of V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse will activate the psychologist’s ‘duty to protect’ and require them to report the abuse to child protective services.
15. AB-PA gives targeted parents the power to hold psychologists accountable for standards of professional competence in assessments, diagnosis, and treatment.