Parental Alienation

Obsessed Alienation
"I love my children. If the court can't protect them from their abusive mother, I will. Even though she's never abused the children, I know it's a matter of time. The children are frightened of their mother. If they don't want to see her, I'm not going to force them. They are old enough to make up their own minds."


The obsessed alienator is a parent, or sometimes a grandparent, with a cause: to align the children to his or her side and together, with the children, campaign to destroy their relationship with the targeted parent. For the campaign to work, the obsessed alienator enmeshes the children's personalities and beliefs into their own. This is a process that takes time but one that the children, especially the young, are completely helpless to see and combat. It usually begins well before the divorce is final. The obsessed parent is angry, bitter or feels betrayed by the other parent. The initial reasons for the bitterness may actually be justified. They could have been verbally and physical abused, raped, betrayed by an affair, or financially cheated. The problem occurs when the feelings won't heal but instead become more intense because of being forced to continue the relationship with a person they despise because of their common parenthood. Just having to see or talk to the other parent is a reminder of the past and triggers the hate. They are trapped with nowhere to go and heal.

In my situation, my ex will not converse with me, BUT he goes to a group called Covenant Keepers. Covenant Keepers believe I am living in sin because I remarried. He stands for the past marriage and his group in CK believe I will come home, as I am the prodigal spouse living in the far country, and he still wears his wedding ring. The strangest thing about his stand and the views of this group is Jesus Christ died on the cross and his blood sacrifice covers everyone but me.

The characteristics of obsessed alienation are:

They are obsessed with destroying the children's relationship with the targeted parent. They having succeeded in enmeshing the children's personalities and beliefs about the other parent with their own.

The children will parrot the obsessed alienator rather than express their own feelings from personal experience with the other parent.

The targeted parent and often the children cannot tell you the reasons for their feelings.

Their beliefs sometimes becoming delusional and irrational. No one, especially the court, can convince obsessed alienators that they are wrong. Anyone who tries is the enemy.

They will often seek support from family members, quasi-political groups or friends that will share in their beliefs that they are victimized by the other parent and the system. The battle becomes "us against them." The obsessed alienator's supporters are often seen at the court hearings even though they haven't been subpoenaed.

They have an unquenchable anger because they believe that the targeted parent has victimized them and whatever they do to protect the children is justified.

They have a desire for the court to punish the other parent with court orders that would interfere or block the targeted parent from seeing the children. This confirms in the obsessed alienator's mind that he or she was right all the time.

The court's authority does not intimidate them.

The obsessed alienator believes in a higher cause, protecting the children at all cost.

The obsessed alienator will probably not want to read what is on these pages because the content just makes them angrier.

There are no effective treatments for either the obsessed alienator or the children. The courts and mental health professionals are helpless. The only hope for these children is early identification of the symptoms and prevention. After the alienation is entrenched and the children become "true believers" in the parent's cause, the children are lost to the other parent for years to come. I realize this is a sad statement, but I have yet to find an effective intervention, by anyone, including the courts that can rehabilitate the alienating parent and child.

Thank you Jesus for saving me from my sin. Thank you for my children. May the damage done to them through divorce be less with every passing day. May I forgive ex for shutting me out of my children's lives. Thank you for opening the door of my children's hearts...Amen