Otuđenje od roditelja i obiteljska medijacija

Abstract

With the increased number and intensity of disputes related to the realisation of parental care, the number of children who, during these procedures, reject one parent and his or her family under the influence of the other parent has also increased. Such behaviour was firstly described by Gardner in 1985 who called it a parental alienation syndrome. Ever since the concept has been developing through contributions from other experts, so that now it is called parental alienation, and its causes, signs and possible treatment approaches have been described in detail. If timely and adequate help is not provided, alienated children may develop problems in social and physical functioning, as well as psychogenic disorders. A family mediator who is trained about this problem can contribute to its early detection and to the provision of adequate help, because he/she can recognise the problem and refer the parents to court without wasting time on family mediation in the cases in which that is an inadequate intervention. The aim of this paper is to present insights into parental alienation and to explain the role of the family mediator in the assessment and treatment of the same. Key words: parental alienation; family mediation; high-conflict divorce; manipulation, prevention and treatment