title: Parental alienation, DSM-5, and ICD-11: response to critics.
abstract: There has been considerable interest among forensic practitioners in the proposals that parental alienation be included in the next editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Diseases (DSM) and The International Classification of Diseases (ICD). However, there has also been a great deal of misunderstanding about the proposals, and misinformation has been expressed in professional meetings, on websites, and in journal articles. In this article we address four common misunderstandings regarding parental alienation: that there is a lack of research to support it as a diagnosis; that adopting parental alienation as a diagnosis will lead to serious adverse consequences; that the advocates of parental alienation are driven by self-serving or malevolent motives; and that Richard Gardner should be criticized for self-publishing his description of parental alienation syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA. william.bernet@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bernet
authors.forename: Amy J L
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D002667:Child Reactive Disorders; D002675:Child, Preschool; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research