Parental Alienation

You're Not The Only One

Could you or someone you know be a victim or a perpetrator of parental alienation? In this episode I interview Jon Smith. He is a targeted parent of parental alienation. In 2015, he had his 3 children dramatically taken from his home. Ever since that day he has tried to make sense of his world being flipped upside down by his estranged ex-wife. Fighting to have equal rights to his children, the judicial system in these cases; have failed him and millions of other families over the decades. Jon now advocates for this movement and is working hard to get the laws changed. Parental alienation is a form of spousal domestic violence, whereas innocent children are used as pawns in a relationally destructive adult mind game through pathogenic parenting techniques. Parental alienation begins with a psychologically distressed parent having severe feelings of inadequacy and relational dysfunctions stemming from their own childhood trauma pertaining to a caregiver This typically results in the development of a personality disorder such as NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) and/or BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) whereas the individual develops an emotional cutoff to normal range empathy. They retaliate against their inner demons by acting out in ways which are destructive themselves as well as to the family unit, such as excessive overspending, substance abuse, adultery and/or psychotic behavior which often leads to divorce. They are then unable to process the psychological mourning surrounding divorce and project their inadequacies on to their ex, who becomes the targeted parent. The targeted parent is slandered and persecuted by their ex as a form of emotional restitution through the re-enactment of the NPD/BPD parent’s childhood scenario. In this fantasy role play, the targeted parent must become the presumed villain and the children must become the presumed victim in order for the personality disordered parent to play the restitutional role of the hero that they never had. The children become trapped in this vicious cycle and are either obstructed or completely erased from having normal range relationship dynamics with their otherwise loving, targeted parent. This pathogenic style of parenting is a form of psychological child abuse and the related trauma hinders the child’s emotional development. Pathogenically parented alienated children are more likely to develop their own life long attachment based disorder as this psychological sickness is passed onward to the next generation and becomes a further breeding grown for non empathetic, widespread relational destruction of family values. Targeted parents additionally suffer from PTSD type symptoms including depression and anxiety which often leads to physical health issues, substance abuse or even suicide. Parental alienation is literally a mental health care crisis estimated to affect over 22 million families in the United States alone. Furthermore, our current family judicial system is incompetent to assess the reality of these scenarios and frequently makes relationally devastating child custody gate keeping decisions based on the unverified allegations of the alienating parent, which are often supported by the persecutory delusions of the psychologically enmeshed child. “And we know that ALL THINGS work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 “ALL THINGS FOR GOOD”, even the ugliness of Parental Alienation. -Jon Smith If you’d like to contact Jon Smith his email is [e-mail] --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/caraleigh-thomas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/caraleigh-thomas/support