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Parental Alienation Syndrome as a Consequence of Paranoid Contagion or Shared Psychosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

A. Ruiz-Tristan ,
J. Urricelqui ,
V. Gomez-De-Las-Heras  and
V. Crossley
A. Ruiz-Tristan*
Affiliation:
Hospital 12 de Octubre, Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain
J. Urricelqui
Affiliation:
Hospital 12 de Octubre, Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain
V. Gomez-De-Las-Heras
Affiliation:
Hospital 12 de Octubre, Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain
V. Crossley
Affiliation:
Hospital Infanta Leonor, Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) was proposed by Richard A. Gardner in 1985. It is assumed to occur in some distressing marriage break-ups, when a parent “brainwashes” his children so they reject the other parent in an unjustified way. But, is it the result of a conscious act as Gardner suggests? Or could it also appear as part of a shared psychosis?

Objectives

To assess the possibility of the appearance of PAS as a consequence of paranoid contagion or shared psychosis.

Methods

We present the case of a 45-year-old patient and her 9-year-old daughter, who is allegedly assaulted by her father during visits, according to both. Mother and daughter continually request attention in the emergency department for this reason, with no obvious injuries. A bibliographic review is carried out on the PAS and shared psychosis. We compare the existing data with our case.

Results

A paranoid cognitive style is observed in the 45-year-old patient, and it is observed that her daughter stops rejecting the father when she spends time separated from her. The contagion of delirium is the nuclear mechanism of shared psychosis. It is known that children with PAS may have distorted memories and incorporate beliefs of others through suggestion. There is also an inverse relationship between the number of visits by the alienated parent and the undervaluation of the child. We have not found any studies linking shared psychosis with PAS.

Conclusions

The existing bibliography on PAS is scarce. The possibility of an existing paranoid contagion mechanism has not been addressed yet.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

paranoidPsychosisalienation
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S707 - S708
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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