The author suggests a connection between the popularisation of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) and the apparent requirement of adversarial processes to deliver a knockout blow

Parents behaving badly: Parental alienation syndrome in the Family Court: Magic bullet or poisoned chalice.
Berns, S S

Australian Journal of Family Law v.15 no.3 Nov 2001: 191-214
The author suggests a connection between the popularisation of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) and the apparent requirement of adversarial processes to deliver a knockout blow
. In an attempt to investigate this, research was conducted into the way in which PAS allegations have played out in the Brisbane registry of the Family Court over a 5 year period. During this research, family law professionals were surveyed and all unreported judgments between 1 January 1995 and 15 March 2001 were examined for evidence of PAS. Following analysis of the survey data and the unreported judgments, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a small sample of legal practitioners and counsellors. A complex picture emerges from the judgments. This picture differs somewhat from the expectations of those surveyed and interviewed and those of the author and supports the likelihood of gender differences with respect to the purposes of PAS allegations and the rhetorical contexts in which they occur. (Journal abstract)
http://www.aifs.gov.au/afrc/bibs/parentalalienation.html
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