Parental Alienation Syndrome: What Health Care Providers Need to Know

The consequence of emotional strain on children has been documented along with the connection between deleterious life experiences and undesirable future health trajectories. The emotional maltreatment of children may be the most difficult to identify in clinical practice and is thus underrecognized. With a fundamental mission to promote child health, pediatric and family practitioners are in an ideal position during well-child visits to screen for parent alienation syndrome (PAS), a type of emotional mistreatment experienced by children of divorce or high-conflict parent separation. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the PAS construct to providers who are unfamiliar with this syndrome. Additionally, this report aims to alert health care professionals to the features of PAS and support them in identifying children who may require further mental health support services from other members of the health care team.