Richard A. Gardner

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Richard Alan Gardner (born April 28, 1931 in Bronx , New York City , † May 25, 2003 in Tenafly , New Jersey ) was an American child psychiatrist .

Life

Gardner studied medicine and psychiatry at various universities in New York with an MD degree. He was stationed in Germany for a short time as a US Army psychiatrist. Since 1963 he has been the Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University , a title "conferred by medical schools in the United States on physicians who allow students to sit in on their work." As opposed to the title of "Professor of Clinical Medicine" ( Professor of Clinical Medicine ) "Gardner's title does not indicate full faculty membership or research."

A high profile he achieved through the introduction of the model of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS, German Parental Alienation Syndrome ) in 1985. Following the introduction of the PAS is Gardner and Columbia University spaced from one another. Gardner then worked in a private practice in New York, but mainly and to a growing extent as an expert on the PAS.

Gardner was married and had three children. His marriage to Lee Gardner ended in divorce. Gardner committed suicide on May 25, 2003 . His son reported that Gardner had increasingly developed symptoms of a complex regional pain syndrome .

Act

Gardner wrote extensively on the subject of divorce . At a time when couples were divorcing more frequently in the United States, Gardner published Boys and Girls Book About Divorce in 1970 . In it, he gave children advice on how to deal with the stressors and with their parents.

In the 1980s, Garder became increasingly interested in cases of child sexual abuse , which he believed to be the result of national hysteria . Regarding sexual acts between adults and children, he took the view that "pedophilia within the family (that is, incest) is widespread and ... probably an old tradition". The sexually abused child is generally viewed as a victim, although the child may have initiated the sexual act. Whether the experience is traumatic is a social setting. Sexually abused children can be helped if they learn that sexual acts between adults and children are not generally viewed as reprehensible. For therapy for mothers, he recommended that she defuse her anger at her husband and become more sexually responsive to him. The pedophile father can be helped in therapy if he rationalizes that pedophilia is a worldwide widespread and accepted practice and that there is nothing to feel guilty about.

Gardner coined the term Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) in 1985 , based on his own observations in his work as a child psychiatrist. According to Gardner, it is a subtype of parental alienation in which one parent manipulates the child, with the result that the child is alienated from the other parent. According to Gardner, the PAS expresses itself in that

  1. the child rejects and vilifies the alienated parent without justification,
  2. gives absurd reasons for rejecting the estranged parent,
  3. sees the estranged parent as completely bad,
  4. reflexively takes sides with the caring parent,
  5. spreading hostility to the entire family and wider community of the estranged parent,
  6. Adopts idioms from the caring parent,
  7. has no guilt and
  8. emphasizes his “own opinion”.

In 1987 Gardner wrote the book The Parental Alienation Syndrome and the Differentiation Between Fabricated and Genuine Child Sex Abuse , four years later he wrote Sex-Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited . Both books were self-published . In 1992 he wrote the book True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse .

Gardner has authored over 40 books and over 250 articles on child psychiatry topics. The majority of Gardner's books and articles were self-published, Creative Therapeutics , which did not publish any work by other authors.

He has appeared in several hundred cases in the United States as an adjudicator on custody cases . Gardner, for example, worked with the lawyers of Kelly Michaels, a child educator from New Jersey, who was convicted of child abuse in a high-profile trial and was acquitted five years later. Another high-profile trial in which Gardner participated was a custody battle in which the couple's three sons refused to visit their father because he was violent. Gardner testified that the children had been manipulated and suffered from PAS, the judge then ordered that the boys continue to visit the father and behave respectfully and obediently. One of the boys was found dead a short time later.

Gardner was in the American media in cases with high visibility such as the custody battle between Mia Farrow and Woody Allen quotes often. He also recommended in blatant cases of abuse allegations that custody be given to the accused parent, even if the child himself refused to visit this parent. In an obituary by the British daily The Independent , he was referred to as the "American monster".

reception

Gardner's assumptions about the frequency of false allegations of child sexual abuse have been criticized by several authors as false and inflammatory. In his book, The Parental Alienation Syndrome and the Differentiation between Fabricated and Genuine Sexual Abuse (1992), Gardner claimed that most children who claim to have been sexually abused in child custody disputes were the ones who invented the sexual abuse. Other scientists argue that this statement is empirically unconfirmed or contradicts scientific results.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Richard Gardner, 72, Dies; Cast Doubt on Abuse Claims . In: The New York Times , June 9, 2003.
  2. ↑ Complete home medical guide , ed .: Columbia University. College of Physicians and Surgeons 1985, ISBN 978-0-517-55842-3 , Contributors, p. Ix, ( Google Books )
  3. ^ A b c d e Andrew Gumbel: Dr Richard A. Gardner: Child psychiatrist who developed the theory of Parental Alienation Syndrome . In: The Independent , May 31, 2003.
  4. ↑ a b Carol S. Bruch: Parental Alienation Syndrome and Alienated Children - getting it wrong in child custody cases , in: Family Law Quarterly, Volume 35, Number 3, Fall 2001, p. 353, footnote 26, and in: Child & Family Law Quarterly (2002), p. 386, footnote 26. In German: Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation: How to be wrong about custody cases . In: Journal for the entire family law . Vol. 49, Issue No. 19, 2002, p. 1307, footnote 26, pdf
  5. ↑ Harry Dettenborn: syndrome alienation Parental . In: MA Wirtz (ed.): Dorsch - Lexicon of Psychology . 19th edition. Hogrefe Verlag, Bern 2020, ISBN 978-3-456-85914-9 ( hogrefe.com [accessed on August 7, 2020]).
  6. ↑ Gardner 1991, p. 119
  7. ↑ SJ Dallam: Dr. Richard Gardner: A review of his theories and opinions on atypical sexuality, pedophilia, and treatment issues . In: Treating Abuse Today, 8 No. 1, Denver 1998, 15-23
  8. ↑ a b Myrna Oliver: Richard Gardner, 72; Had Theory on False Claims of Abuse Against Parents , Los Angeles Times , June 12, 2003
  9. ↑ a b Harry Dettenborn: Parental Alienation Syndrome . In: Markus A. Wirtz (ed.): Dorsch: Lexicon of Psychology . 19. revised Edition Hogrefe, Bern 2020, ISBN 978-3-456-85914-9 , p. 1308. Can be viewed online in the Hogrefe portal.
  10. ^ Gardner's controversial stance on incest . In: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , June 2, 1998.
  11. ↑ KC Faller: The Parental Alienation Syndrome: What is it and What Data Support it? . In: Child Maltreatment . 3, No. 2, May 1998, pp. 100-115. doi : 10.1177 / 1077559598003002005 .
  12. ^ Mackenzie Carpenter, Ginny Kopas: Casualties of a Custody War: Maverick expert exerts wide influence on custody cases , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 2, 1998
  13. ^ M Carpenter, G Kopas: Casualties of a Custody War . In: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , accessed June 13, 2014.
  14. ^ BW Boas, SB Forman: Consider the Source: A Commentary on Incest and Parental Contact. In: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse . 17, No. 1, 2008, pp. 13-16. doi : 10.1080 / 10538710701884292 .
  15. ^ JEB Myers: New era of skepticism regarding children's credibility . In: Psychology, Public Policy and Law (American Psychological Association), 1995.
  16. ^ RA Gardner: The parental alienation syndrome and the differentiation between fabricated and genuine sexual abuse . Creative Therapeutics (Gardners Selbstverlag), Creskill / NJ 1987, p. 274: "This relates to my deep involvement in custody litigation in which the vast majority of children who profess sexual abuse are fabricators."
  17. ↑ PD Salinger: True or False Accusations ?: Protecting Victims of Child Sexual Abuse During Custody Disputes . In: McGeroge Law Review . 32, No. 1, 2000, p. 693 ff.
  18. ^ Carol Sanger: Family law stories . Foundation Press, New York 2008, ISBN 978-1-59941-020-3 , p. 144.
  19. ^ JEB Myers: Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse in Custody and Visitation Litigation: Recommendations for Improved Fact Finding and Child Protection . In: Journal of Family Law . 28, No. 104, 1990, p. 21: "There is no systematic evidence, however, that the number of allegations arising during custody litigation has reached flood stage. Nor is there convincing evidence that a substantial portion of the allegations are fabricated. In fact, the research that exists points the other way. "
    see. also: JEB Myers: Myers on Evidence in Child, Domestic, and Elder Abuse Cases . Aspen Publishers, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0735556683 , p. 415: "Any Use of PAS for diagnostic purposes is a misuse of the syndrome that does not pass muster under Frye or Daubert."
personal data
SURNAME Gardner, Richard A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gardner, Richard Alan (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American child psychiatrist
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Bronx , New York City
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 2003
Place of death Tenafly , New Jersey