The PAS is a family system defense mechanism. The function of the defense is not always obvious, but there is often a subtle underlying complicity on the part of the family members in the drama.
The research provides clues to some defense functions:
UNDERSTANDING AND COLLABORATIVELY TREATING PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME - KENNETH H. WALDRON, Ph.D. DAVID E. JOANIS, J.D. Madison. Wisconsin. From the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF FAMILY LAWS, VOLUME 10, P.121-133 (1996)
The research provides clues to some defense functions:
- to protect the AP's self-esteem (for example, when PAS escalates as the TP becomes more "successful" after the separation, including getting on with life and remarriage);
- to help the AP cope with his or her difficulty "letting go" of the marriage (for example, when the AP can't stop thinking about or talking about the other parent; or when PAS escalates around birthdays, holidays, vacations, etc.);
- to maintain the AP's symbiotic dependence on the child (for example, when the AP calls the child every day when he or she is with the TP--one of the authors had a case in which the AP would tell the child that she "couldn't stand to go into your room while you were away, it makes me so sad");
- to deal with anger and revenge (for example, when the AP expresses moral outrage at the exposure of the child to a new romantic partner, when the real issue is anger for an affair, or simply at being so easily replaced);
- to help the AP through what he or she perceives to be a "grown up" version of a childhood experience; and
- to help the family cope with the AP's tendency to turn on the child or anyone else who disagrees, or to abandon the child if there is a change (the child fears having feelings independent of and in opposition to the AP and becoming a target of the rage and rejection he or she has seen the AP direct at others who disagree).
UNDERSTANDING AND COLLABORATIVELY TREATING PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME - KENNETH H. WALDRON, Ph.D. DAVID E. JOANIS, J.D. Madison. Wisconsin. From the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF FAMILY LAWS, VOLUME 10, P.121-133 (1996)