Understanding Parental Alienation: Theoretical Insights and Practical Strategies

Understanding Parental Alienation offers a clear, accessible starting point for anyone trying to make sense of parental alienation (PA): what it is, how it develops, and why it causes such profound harm.Opening with a grounded, user-friendly explanation of the phenomenon, the book demystifies PA without minimising its seriousness, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of its emotional, psychological, and legal dimensions. From there, the book moves into a comprehensive examination of why parental alienation happens.Drawing on attachment theory to family-violence frameworks, it brings together leading theoretical insights to illuminate the mechanisms that drive bond-breaking between parents and children.This book expands beyond previous work to examine the wider ecosystem around PA, including the role of new partners, extended family members, complex sibling dynamics and the systems that enable the abuse to take place. The book then shifts to impact: analysing the short- and long-t