Jennifer J. Harman, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University. I discovered Dr. Harman when I watched her TEDx Talk about Parental Alienation. While watching, I was intrigued because, unlike many professionals, Dr. Harman didn’t focus solely on the diagnosis of parents and children. She talked broadly about the societal stereotypes and how our attitudes about mothers and fathers allow alienation to take hold. I was fascinated and wanted to know more. A few weeks ago, I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Harman. She told me that Parental Alienation isn’t just a Family Issue, it’s a […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: parental alienation
The Right Thing is… Painful
A few weeks ago, I watched the movie, The Vicious Kind. In a closing scene, an adulterous and alienating father stops short of confessing and apologizing to his youngest son. “Sometimes people do things that they know are wrong,” he began. “But they just do them anyway. Because to do the right thing would be too painful.” His explanation grabbed me and left me contemplating the words for days. It wasn’t entirely a new concept for me. For years, I’ve been touting the phrase, “hurting people hurt people.” But… this was… different. “To do the right thing would be too […]
Continue readingMy Book Is Born: Meet The D-Word
A few times over the past couple years, I’ve let it slip around these circles that I wrote a book. It started on an unsuspecting day in July 2010. Suddenly, there were words in my head that begged to be set free, and so I started typing. For the next few months I sat at the keyboard and allowed the text to pour from my fingertips. When I was finished, I’d written the story of a divorce from the perspective of a twelve-year-old girl named Gina (I posted an excerpt from her diary earlier this week).
At first, I thought I was writing for young adults in Gina’s situation. It was several pages— possibly several days— before I realized that, more than anything, I wanted adults to read Gina’s story.
Continue readingParental Alienation: It’s Not Always What You Think
The following video was linked in a comment on a previous post about Parental Alienation Syndrome. I found it so moving that I was inspired to feature it in a new post.
Continue readingBook: A Family’s Heartbreak
I recently finished reading A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation by Michael Jeffries and Dr. Joel Davies. To date, I think this is my favorite book about this very important topic. (do I say that about every book I read on this topic?)
Continue reading