The relationship between alienating parents and their severely alienated children has been described as very much like that of a cult leader and his fol-lowers (Reay, 2015). And as with a cult, those who refuse to follow the leader (or in this case, the alien-ating parent) are exiled and/or badly treated (Reay, 2015). As shown above, these children are stripped of their critical thinking skills and blindly follow their leader (Reay, 2015). The behaviors they dis-play are often so remarkable that, absent experience in dealing with severely alienated children, men-tal health professionals, courts, investigators, and others are confounded and deceived (Reay, 2015). Thus, between the children’s strident refusal to be with, and outright hostility toward, the target par-ent, false or misleading statements of abuse and neglect levied against the target parent, and unre-lenting manipulation campaign of the alienating parent, traditional therapies are doomed before they even begin.
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