Handling the treatment of adult survivors of Parental Alienation

requires professionalism, gentleness and understanding.

 

In recent years, many of my cases as a clinical psychotherapist have involved treating adult survivors of Parental Alienation, so consequently I have chosen to specialise in this area as I myself am an adult survivor of severe PA. I am currently studying a PhD in parental alienation at the university of The Sunshine Coast, Social Sciences Dept.

As I work with these cases, I realise that more and more adults are coming forward who don't even know that they have been exposed to P.A, or just how much the symptoms of PA play out in their relationships until they come into therapy. I was one of these people myself. It was like a light was turned on for me the day I discovered why I had struggled so much in certain situations at different times and events due to severe exposure to P.A as a child.

 

Often I will need to teach adult survivors who come in and see me or Skype me, about P.A, including all of the common strategies used by the alienating parent: badmouthing; limiting the other parent and their extended family’s contact with them when they were children; withdrawing love or getting angry at them as children; telling them as children that their other parent did not love them, forcing them as a child to chose between parents; insisting that the other parent was dangerous; discussing adult relationships with them as a child; avoiding mention and removing photos of the other parent; forcing them to reject the other parent; limiting contact with the extended family; belittling the other parent; creating conflict; cultivating dependency; and throwing out letters and gifts.

 

Some adult survivors realise by their late teens that they had been manipulated, but others don't see the situation clearly until their thirties or later, or until they became parents themselves and had similar struggles with an ex spouse. Sometimes realisation that one was a child victim of parental alienation comes with maturation, but in other cases a significant person or event appeared to propel new insight. Catalysts included: therapy; reaching a major life milestone such as becoming a parent; intervention of a significant other or family; being the recipient of hostility from the alienating parent, or seeing them be dishonest or mistreat others; the targeted parent returning; and becoming alienated from one’s own children.

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Currently I am available to counsel adult survivors of PA online, and face to face.

To book a therapeutic session with me, please email me at alysepricetobler@gmail.com

 

With regards to the SEMPI Social Communication Model and PA, I wrote the SEMPI model to teach young children and adults without a voice how to develop communication skills.

When you ask someone, "Are You O.K?" and they say "NO" do you know what to do? The next step is what the SEMPI model teaches. SEMPI is a pay-it-forward method of altruism, and it teaches you to be someone who can help immediately rather than having to wait for months for government services or private therapists to get back to you if it's not an emergency. Family members, friends, and colleagues can learn to build deeper communication skills and save lives with this technique, so they can truly step in when someone needs immediate intervention.

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SEMPI is written for everyone from age 5 and up. Download the FREE PDF on this website today and be a #SEMPIFirstresponder and help your community right now!

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