Page 13 - How_Children_Learn_To_Hate_Their_Parents

Alienation Makes for Great Debate But Poor Problem Solving - And The Rejected Parent Usually Pays For It
The term "alienation" does what every "theory" does -- it creates evangelists and detractors and sparks debates over whether the theory actually explains something real. Alienation does not explain anything. It merely gives a name to something we have all seen many times before--the observation that high conflict divorce creates a secondary type of divorce, divorce between a parent and a child. In scientific terms this is sometimes called "reification" -- the act of trying to explain something complex and often abstract by giving it a name. But giving something a name does not explain it and in the case of estranged parents and children definitely doesn't fix it.
Alienation is a problem without a solution. If there were a solution to parental alienation, we would not need to fight so vigorously over what we should do when rejection happens. But we fight to assign blame because that is easier to do and it makes money for attorneys and mental health experts and "treatment providers."
Speaking of treatment providers, can you imagine how it might feel to have a problem with your heart, then sit down with a cardiologist who tells you,
"You have a serious problem and I am going to tell you that what you should do about it is to go see someone who thinks they can fix it, but the way they are going to try to fix it is not taught anywhere, has no basis in research, has no known efficacy, is not done the way they are going to do it by anyone else, costs a lot of money and might kill you."
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