title: [Parental alienation syndrome (PAS): unknown in medical settings, endemic in courts].
abstract: A purposed syndrome of so-called parental alienation (PAS), unsupported by any evidence-based data, unknown in medical settings, unquoted in medical books, absent in DSM and ICD, never demonstrated by controlled studies published in high scientific level journals, is rampant in Courts where it can lead to loose parental custody. During a divorce trial, almost always the mothers and the children, become joint in a sort of folie au deux, in a denigration campaign of ex-husband/father. From a review on this issue it seems evident its theoretical roots lie on a theory that justify gender violence and children sexual abuse. The bias that both of them are layers and that he children have not autonomy block their possibility of any defence in front of a Court. In severe cases, PAS becomes a new and efficient tool of intra-familiar violence. The treatment of severe cases is to stop any contact between mother and children. The resort to PAS in Courts must be strongly rejected.
authors.affiliation: Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Meyer, Firenze. m.pignotti@meyer.it
authors.forename: Maria Serenella
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Pignotti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual; D002655:Child Custody / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D008192:Deception; D004243:Divorce / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*; D017579:Domestic Violence; D005195:Family Relations; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012753:Shared Paranoid Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D013577:Syndrome