A Letter of Introduction

By Douglas Darnall, Ph.D.

The response to our "www.parentalalienation.com” page has been tremendous--Thank you!  Your letters and comments have been personally very exciting and helpful. So far I have been able to answer every e-mail though many times I feel that my response is inadequate because of the complexity of your circumstances. I guess that will always be a problem when communication is limited to e-mail. 

I know there will be a time when I just can't respond to everyone but for now I am doing okay. Long e-mails are difficult because my time is limited and I can’t always take the time to you a complete answer. Please don’t be offended if I ask you to first read my book because a lot of what I would say in an email reply is written in “Divorce Casualties.” I can’t take the time to repeat myself. 

I have been very touched by many of your stories where both mothers and fathers recount their frustration and hurt about the devastating effects of alienation. I am also flattered that my terms and definitions are now widely accepted. 

I understand that my observation that severe alienation is usually irreversible has caused many of you concern. I appreciate how you feel but I can't change what I have learned. That is why I stress the urgency of knowing the symptoms early, so alienation can be prevented or stopped before it is too late. 

Now that is the bad news. The good news is the growing recognition that alienation exists and must be understood. I believe there are parents who have overcome severe alienation and now have a loving relationship with their children. We need to learn from their experiences so protocols can be developed in treating severe alienation; that is, working through the children's hatred and helping the obsessed alienator. This is a formidable task that I hope the PsyCare and the National Parental Alienation Foundation can support with future funding. In the mean time, we want to hear your stories about how you have overcome severe alienation. Then we will share these stories with the web site. 

 

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