THE EIGHT BEHAVIORAL MANIFESTATIONS OF
PARENTAL ALIENATION

These are the symptoms of parental alienation that appear within alienated children.

Generally, the more symptoms present and the more severe the symptoms, the more severe the alienation; all manifestations do not need to be present in order for alienation to exist.

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1. Campaign of denigration: Strong or utter rejection of one parent, willingness to tell others, erasing past positive aspects of relationships and memories.

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2. Weak, frivolous, absurd reasons for the rejection: When pressed to explain the rejection will give reasons that do not make sense or explain the level of animosity, are false memories (proclaiming to remember something from a very young age), or are patently untrue.

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3. Lack of ambivalence: For the most part, one parent is seen as all good while the other is

viewed as all bad.

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4. “Independent thinker” phenomenon: The child strongly emphasizes that the favored parent played no role in the child’s rejection of the other parent.

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5. Reflexive support of the alienating parent in the parental conflict: Almost always taking the favored parent’s side in almost all disagreements.

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6. Absence of guilt: Appearing to have no qualms about cruel and harsh treatment of the rejected parent.

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7. The presence of borrowed scenarios: Use of words and phrases that mimic or parrot those of the favored parent.

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8. Rejection of extended family of rejected parent: Refusal to spend time with or acknowledge formerly beloved family members.

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Amy J. L. Baker and S. Richard Sauber, editors, Working with Alienated Children and Families: A Clinical Guidebook (New York: Routledge, 2013), 62