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Parental Alienation Syndrome as a Consequence of Paranoid Contagion or Shared Psychosis

INTRODUCTION: Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) was proposed by Richard A. Gardner in 1985. It is assumed to occur in some distressing marriage break-ups, when a parent “brainwashes” his children so they reject the other parent in an unjustified way. But, is it the result of a conscious act as Gard...

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Autores principales: Ruiz-Tristan, A., Urricelqui, J., Gomez-De-Las-Heras, V., Crossley, V.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cambridge University Press 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9568140/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.1823
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author Ruiz-Tristan, A.
Urricelqui, J.
Gomez-De-Las-Heras, V.
Crossley, V.
author_facet Ruiz-Tristan, A.
Urricelqui, J.
Gomez-De-Las-Heras, V.
Crossley, V.
author_sort Ruiz-Tristan, A.
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) was proposed by Richard A. Gardner in 1985. It is assumed to occur in some distressing marriage break-ups, when a parent “brainwashes” his children so they reject the other parent in an unjustified way. But, is it the result of a conscious act as Gardner suggests? Or could it also appear as part of a shared psychosis? OBJECTIVES: To assess the possibility of the appearance of PAS as a consequence of paranoid contagion or shared psychosis. METHODS: We present the case of a 45-year-old patient and her 9-year-old daughter, who is allegedly assaulted by her father during visits, according to both. Mother and daughter continually request attention in the emergency department for this reason, with no obvious injuries. A bibliographic review is carried out on the PAS and shared psychosis. We compare the existing data with our case. RESULTS: A paranoid cognitive style is observed in the 45-year-old patient, and it is observed that her daughter stops rejecting the father when she spends time separated from her. The contagion of delirium is the nuclear mechanism of shared psychosis. It is known that children with PAS may have distorted memories and incorporate beliefs of others through suggestion. There is also an inverse relationship between the number of visits by the alienated parent and the undervaluation of the child. We have not found any studies linking shared psychosis with PAS. CONCLUSIONS: The existing bibliography on PAS is scarce. The possibility of an existing paranoid contagion mechanism has not been addressed yet. DISCLOSURE: No significant relationships.
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spelling pubmed-95681402022-10-17 Parental Alienation Syndrome as a Consequence of Paranoid Contagion or Shared Psychosis Ruiz-Tristan, A. Urricelqui, J. Gomez-De-Las-Heras, V. Crossley, V. Eur Psychiatry Abstract INTRODUCTION: Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) was proposed by Richard A. Gardner in 1985. It is assumed to occur in some distressing marriage break-ups, when a parent “brainwashes” his children so they reject the other parent in an unjustified way. But, is it the result of a conscious act as Gardner suggests? Or could it also appear as part of a shared psychosis? OBJECTIVES: To assess the possibility of the appearance of PAS as a consequence of paranoid contagion or shared psychosis. METHODS: We present the case of a 45-year-old patient and her 9-year-old daughter, who is allegedly assaulted by her father during visits, according to both. Mother and daughter continually request attention in the emergency department for this reason, with no obvious injuries. A bibliographic review is carried out on the PAS and shared psychosis. We compare the existing data with our case. RESULTS: A paranoid cognitive style is observed in the 45-year-old patient, and it is observed that her daughter stops rejecting the father when she spends time separated from her. The contagion of delirium is the nuclear mechanism of shared psychosis. It is known that children with PAS may have distorted memories and incorporate beliefs of others through suggestion. There is also an inverse relationship between the number of visits by the alienated parent and the undervaluation of the child. We have not found any studies linking shared psychosis with PAS. CONCLUSIONS: The existing bibliography on PAS is scarce. The possibility of an existing paranoid contagion mechanism has not been addressed yet. DISCLOSURE: No significant relationships. Cambridge University Press 2022-09-01 /pmc/articles/PMC9568140/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.1823 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Abstract
Ruiz-Tristan, A.
Urricelqui, J.
Gomez-De-Las-Heras, V.
Crossley, V.
Parental Alienation Syndrome as a Consequence of Paranoid Contagion or Shared Psychosis
title Parental Alienation Syndrome as a Consequence of Paranoid Contagion or Shared Psychosis
title_full Parental Alienation Syndrome as a Consequence of Paranoid Contagion or Shared Psychosis
title_fullStr Parental Alienation Syndrome as a Consequence of Paranoid Contagion or Shared Psychosis
title_full_unstemmed Parental Alienation Syndrome as a Consequence of Paranoid Contagion or Shared Psychosis
title_short Parental Alienation Syndrome as a Consequence of Paranoid Contagion or Shared Psychosis
title_sort parental alienation syndrome as a consequence of paranoid contagion or shared psychosis
topic Abstract
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9568140/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.1823
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